Herbal Coltsfoot(Tussilago farfara) Protects the Neurons Against Enterovirus 71 (EV71) Infection

By Kyle J. Norton

A virus is a small infectious pathogen that can only replicate inside the cells of an organism, causing infectious diseases, including influenza and the common cold.

A viral infection that causes inflammation is a result of the proliferation of a harmful virus inside the body by injecting their genetic material into the cells.

The most common diseases associated with viral infection depending on the types of viruses, including common cold and flu are smallpox, hepatitis, measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, and shingles.

The most common symptoms of viral infection are runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, coughing, nasal congestion, sneezing, and fever.

Believe it or not, viral diseases have been found to induce major impact through morbidity, impairment of personal health, loss of time at work and school, and cost of medical care.

In infancy and children, viruses cause a relatively low fatality rate but with frequent episodes of illness.

Dr. Davis DJ in his report of viral infection wrote," Relatively few of the known viruses cause a significant number of deaths; influenza, childhood viral pneumonia, and hepatitis are the only viral diseases causing more than 1,000 deaths per year"

And "Data based on the National Health Interview Survey of the National Center for Health Statistics show that the common cold annually causes 35.6 acute illnesses per 100 persons".

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is a virus that has been found to cause epidemics of severe neurological disease and hand, foot, and mouth disease in children, particularly in children under the age of five.

Coltsfoot(Tussilago farfara) is a perennial herbaceous plant, genus Tussilago, belonging to the family Asteraceae, native to Europe and Asia. The herb has been used over thousands of year to treat asthma, various coughs, bronchial congestion, respiratory disorders, headaches and obstruction in the nasal passage, etc.

On finding a potential compound for the treatment of Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection, researchers examined the neuroprotective activity in the neuro-inflammatory disease of Tussilagone (TSL), isolated from the flower of buds of Tussilago farfara (Compositae).

On human foreskin fibroblast (CCFS-1/KMC) and human rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) cell line, a hot water extract of Flos Farfarae showed a significant effect in the inhibition of EV71 infection.

According to the plaque reduction assays and flow cytometry, Flos Farfarae inhibits EV71 infection by blocking viral replication and protein expression.

Based on the findings, researchers said, " Flos Farfarae could be beneficial to inhibit EV71 infection by preventing viral replication and structural protein expression".

Taken altogether, coltsfoot may be considered a remedy for the treatment of neuro diseases caused by Enterovirus 71 (EV71), pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Flos Farfarae Inhibits Enterovirus 71-Induced Cell Injury by Preventing Viral Replication and Structural Protein Expression by Chiang YW1, Yeh CF1, Yen MH2, Lu CY3, Chiang LC4, Shieh DE5, Chang JS. (PubMed)
(2) Measurements of the prevalence of viral infections by Davis DJ. (PubMed)