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With COVID-19 cases and deaths increasing in the U.S. and worldwide, identifying new therapies to prevent and combat the virus is a top priority. Natural products from plants are an attractive option in the search for a cure. Approximately 374,000 plant species are on Earth; people have used more than 28,000 of them as a form of medicine.
But not everything that is natural is necessarily safe. Scientists have not yet studied most of these types for their chemical makeup as therapeutic potential.
As a medical ethnobotanist, I study the traditional use of medicinal plants to discover promising leads for new medicines to combat infectious diseases. It is essential to consider both the potential benefits and risks of plant extracts in such research. I am concerned about recent reports that a chemical found in the oleander plant is touted as a potential treatment for COVID-19.
About the Oleander plant
Nerium oleander is a very poisonous plant from the family Apocynaceae. Although famous for its beauty and use in landscapes, this Mediterranean shrub is responsible for cases of accidental poisoning all over the world. All parts of the plant are poisonous. When eaten, it causes cardiac arrhythmias, such as irregular heartbeats, and can be fatal to both humans and animals.
Casssandra Quave, CC BY-SA
Oleandrin is the chemical that causes the lethal toxicity of the plant. It is known by scientists as a cardiac glycoside, a class of organic compounds with a common characteristic: They exhibit powerful effects on heart tissue, often with fatal consequences.
A pre-printed article – that is, an article that has not been reviewed by peer reserves by other scientists – is now online. It reports how oleandrin in a test tube reduces the production of the virus responsible for COVID-19. But this does not take into account the known cardiac toxicity of the chemical when consumed by an animal or a human.
Particularly worrying is the idea that consumers may misinterpret any publicity around oleander and even try to make medicines with this highly toxic plant. I’m also trying to get the dietary supplement industry to take advantage of the public’s fear of COVID-19 by developing supplements that contain oleandrin.
There are many other examples of natural plant extracts that are harmful. But oleander is especially dangerous because eating any part of the plant can lead to serious illness and possibly death. What’s more, there is no published scientific evidence on the safety of consuming oleandrin as the plant source, Nerium oleander. It is critical that the Food and Drug Administration and its commissioner, Dr. Stephen Hahn, ensure that the public is protected from this poison.
Cassandra Quave, assistant professor of dermatology and human health; Herbarium Curator, Emory University
This article was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
