Post-COVID-19 Symptom Burden: Treatment with Forsythiae Fructus

Abstract

COVID-19 is a widespread illness that affects human life. Following infection, many patients may suffer long-term sequelae of COVID-19. Forsythiae Fructus is a popular herbal treatment for the common cold and flu. According to studies, the active components in Forsythiae Fructus have potent antiviral properties and can treat various diseases by influencing several pathways. This article explores the mechanism of action and effectiveness of the active components in Forsythiae Fructus for treating COVID-19 through a literature review and network pharmacology techniques, emphasizing their effects on sequelae.

Plain language summary

What is this summary about?

COVID-19 is a disease that affects the lungs. Forsythiae Fructus is an herb traditionally used in Chinese medicine that has been used to treat infections of the lungs, so we discuss whether it could be used to treat COVID-19 symptoms.

What were the results?

We found evidence that this herb could be used to treat COVID-19 symptoms.

What do the results mean?

This implies that Forsythiae Fructus could be investigated as a potential option for treating COVID-19.

Keywords: :

• COVID-19
• dosage form
• Forsythiae Fructus
• network pharmacology
• sequelae

Author contributions

Y Zhao: data curation, formal analysis, investigation, software, visualization, writing – original draft. X Gao: data curation, formal analysis, software. J Ren: data curation. W Chen: software. Y Zhao: formal analysis. J Zhang: project administration, resources, supervision, writing – original draft. X Li: conceptualization, funding acquisition, investigation, project administration, resources, supervision, writing – review & editing.

Financial disclosure

This work was supported by Scientific Research Project of Tianjin Educational Committee (2022KJ154) and Tianjin Science and Technology Plan Project (21ZYCGSN00660). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Competing interests disclosure

The authors have no competing interests or relevant affiliations with any organization or entity with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Writing disclosure

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.