Ebola is considered one of the deadliest viral disease in the world and on an average 50% of the people who contract this disease eventually die.
There is currently an outbreak of Ebola in Western African regions where it has killed 70% of infected people.
Treatment of some symptoms may improve the chances of survival but still there is no sure-shot therapy for the treatment of disease.
One of the major causes of high fatality in Ebola infected patients is ‘Cytokine Storm’ caused due to aberrant functioning of immune system.
This condition occurs in the later stages where large amounts of inflammatory and anti inflammatory enzymes are secreted leading to severe conditions like hemorrhage or multi-organ failure and eventually death.
Inhibition of Cytokine Storm can be one method to reduce mortality rate. But the question persists… How?
Curcumin can help
Scientists may have found an answer to the question.
Published in the journal In Vivo, the research explores the effect of intravenous curcumin therapy (curcumin is the primary polyphenol and curcuminoid of Turmeric) on viral infections and related cytokine levels.
They studied and discussed a number of research studies related to curcumin and its corresponding effects on inflammatory cytokines, cytokine storm and viral activity and deduced the following results –
- Curcumin reduces inflammation by suppression of major cytokines like IL-6, IL-10, IL-8, NF-Kb, TNF-alpha etc.
- Curcumin reduces the severity of viral infections .
- Curcumin inhibits the activity of number of infectious viruses like HIV, HSV, HBV viruses etc.
- It activates the SOCS proteins which protects against cytokine storm .
Summary
After a thorough research of the antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin and its ability to suppress the cytokine storm, an important conclusion can be drawn that Curcumin has a potential to serve as a promising agent in reducing the severity of and treating viral infections which are otherwise incurable.
While a thorough research of curcumin on Ebola patients is still required to test the efficacy of curcumin in its treatment, but there is no doubt that curcumin has shown potential.
Another important point worth noting is that curcumin is a very safe with no significant side effect. Which is not the case with most medications used.