Curcumin, a natural compound found in the spice turmeric, could help remove specific viruses, studies have found.

A study published in the Journal of General Virology revealed that curcumin can prevent Transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) - an alpha-group coronavirus that infects pigs - from infecting cells. At higher doses, the compound was also found to destroy virus particles.

Infection with TGEV triggers a disorder known as transmissible gastroenteritis from piglets, which can be characterised by diarrhea, severe dehydration and death. TGEV is extremely infectious and is invariably fatal in piglets younger than fourteen days, thus posing a significant threat to the global swine industry.

<span style="color: #ff6600;"><a style="color: #ff6600;" href="https://microbiologysociety.org/news/press-releases/turmeric-could-have-antiviral-properties.html">There are currently no approved treatments for alpha-coronaviruses and although there's a vaccine for TGEV, it is not effective in preventing the spread of this virus</a></span>.

To ascertain the potential antiviral properties of curcumin, the research team treated experimental cells with various concentrations of this compound, before trying to infect them with TGEV. They found that high concentrations of curcumin reduced the number of virus particles from the cell culture.
The research suggests that curcumin impacts TGEV in many of ways: by directly killing the virus until it's ready to infect the cell, by integrating with the viral envelope to'inactivate' the virus, and by altering the metabolism of cells to prevent viral entry.

<span style="color: #ff6600;"><a style="color: #ff6600;" href="https://microbiologysociety.org/news/press-releases/turmeric-could-have-antiviral-properties.html">Curcumin has been shown to inhibit the replication of some kinds of virus, including dengue virus, hepatitis B and Zika virus.</a></span>

The chemical has also been discovered to have a number of important biological consequences, including antitumor, antibacterial and antifungal activities. Curcumin was picked for this study due to getting low side effects according to Dr Xie.

[caption id="attachment_6652" align="alignnone" width="511"]<img class="wp-image-6652 " src="https://microbiozindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/GettyImages-1145055978-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="511" height="288" /> <span style="font-size: 10pt;">Curcumin herbal supplement capsules and turmeric powder in glass bowl. Anti-inflammatory herbal medicine (Curcuma)</span>[/caption]

They said:"There are great problems in the prevention and management of viral diseases, particularly when there are no effective vaccines. Traditional Chinese medicine and its active ingredients, are perfect screening libraries for anti inflammatory drugs due to their benefits, such as convenient acquisition and reduced side effects"

The researchers now hope to keep their study in vivo, using an animal model to evaluate whether the inhibiting properties of curcumin would be seen in a more intricate system.

"Further research will be needed, to assess the inhibitory effect in vivo and also explore the potential mechanisms of curcumin against TGEV, which will lay a foundation for the comprehensive understanding of the antiviral mechanics and application of curcumin," said Dr Xie.
<div class="content-src-label"><strong>Source:</strong></div>
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<span style="color: #ff6600;"><a style="color: #ff6600;" href="https://microbiologysociety.org/news/press-releases/turmeric-could-have-antiviral-properties.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Microbiology Society</a></span>

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<div class="content-src-label"><strong>Journal reference:</strong></div>
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Li, Y., <em>et al</em>. (2020) Antiviral and virucidal effects of curcumin on transmissible gastroenteritis virus in vitro.<em> Journal of General Virology</em><span style="color: #ff6600;">. <a style="color: #ff6600;" href="https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.001466" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.001466.</a></span>

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