As COVID-19 cases continue to rise with time, investigators have started to look for solutions and a way to treat this deadly virus in an unlikely place, the cannabis plant. Cannabis’ active compounds have various properties that make it tempting as a potential adjunct treatment for infections and viruses from the novel coronavirus, and lately experts have begun looking at its potential characteristics and properties for reducing vulnerability to the disease, and even deliberated whether it could be used as an antiviral medication and to treat Covid-19.
Early investigations and researches show that medicinal cannabis may have potential in treating the manifestations and symptoms related of COVID-19.
Coronavirus gives no indication of hindering presently and vaccines are as yet a while or maybe months away, maybe even few more months before it gets tested and approved. The race to try drugs as of now available has prompted a dramatic increase in purchases by certain administrations in an offer to lessen the effect of such a deceptive virus.
With numerous health experts searching for a treatment – or, if not that that, the best precaution system besides masks and social distance– it is advantageous taking a step back to perceive what role medical cannabis may play in assisting with diminishing the seriousness and severity of symptoms that have been brought by COVID-19 in the present times.
How does the Corona Virus Work?
Coronavirus utilizes its spiky surface proteins to take hold of receptors found on healthy cells, especially those found in the lungs. These viral proteins particularly go through ACE2 receptors; and whenever they have advanced inside, the Coronavirus holds onto healthy cells and takes order. Eventually by time, it starts killing some of the healthy cells resulting in the infection to increase.
The virus impacts the respiratory framework by moving down your respiratory tract, which incorporates and includes your mouth, nose, throat, and lungs. In any case, on the grounds that the lower airways have more ACE2 receptors than the remainder of the respiratory tract, COVID-19 is bound to go further than different and various other viruses and infections, for example, the basic virus and the common cold and flu. This is the thing that makes COVID-19 viler than normal colds or strains of flu. By entering the lungs, the virus makes it hard for individuals to eventually breathe, especially on the off chance that it prompts pneumonia.
For the vast majority (about 80%), the indications end with a dry cough and a fever. For the individuals who are not all that fortunate, the infection can turn out to be extreme. Around five to eight days after symptoms start, a few people will experience shortness of breath which could lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) a couple days later.
What would cannabis be able to do?
Cannabinoids, for example, cannabidiol (CBD) have a history filled with safe use and contain a few properties which might be valuable in treating certain medical symptoms: CBD has calming and anti-inflammatory properties, can go about as a vasorelaxant and can lessen excruciating pain and most importantly anxiety. In combination with different cannabinoids and terpenes, just as vital clinical intercession, CBD can possibly treat the indications and symptoms of an infection, for example, COVID-19. Whole plant cannabis extracts have additionally been appeared to diminish blood coagulation in animal models; it is realized that huge numbers of the negative foundational impacts of COVID-19 give off an impression of being identified with changed coagulation, so it is conceivable that cannabis might be valuable in dealing with these sequelae.
Will medical cannabis help to prevent or treat COVID-19?
Prevention
Until now, the range and scope of verifiable research data connecting cannabinoids with COVID-19 prevention is exceptionally restricted; nonetheless, novel ways to deal with the avoidance and prevention of COVID-19 include a separate report looking at the chance of incorporating CBD into oral arrangements, for example, mouthwashes and throat gargling fluids, with the end goal of ‘bringing down or regulating ACE2 levels in high-risk tissues’.
Studies have discovered that ACE2 levels change during the progression of COVID-19 and in this way the capacity to adjust and modulate these levels turns out to be especially significant as ACE2 has been demonstrated to be important for lung function in animal models of SARS infections.
Reducing Severity and impact
In examinations of COVID-19 there has been a huge level of interest in the phenomenon of cytokine storm syndrome, wherein such a large number of cytokine proteins are delivered in the body: these proteins can attack the lungs and overpower the immune system with hyper inflammation. Early proof has probably demonstrated that CBD and THC might be helpful in the treatment of patients whose bodies’ inflammatory reaction has gotten pathogenic.
Much examination in this field has focused in on the capacity of cannabinoids and terpenes to bring down the immune system’s reaction without overwhelming it. Early discoveries in an investigation right now being led by terpene manufacturer Eybna and cannabis research and development firm CannaSoul Analytics, both from Israel, seem to show that the blend of terpenes and cannabinoids utilized is up to multiple times more efficient than the corticosteroid dexamethasone, when used to decrease inflammation from COVID-19. The investigation has not yet been peer reviewed.
Another new methodology right now being researched in Israel is the improvement of a potential cell therapy treatment which utilizes CBD-loaded exosomes to treat COVID-19 patients. The aim of this innovation is to ‘target both central nervous system signs and the COVID-19 Coronavirus’. CBD-loaded exosomes hold the possibility to give an exceptionally synergistic impact of anti-inflammatory properties by focusing on explicit harmed organs, for example, infected lung cells.
What possibly can be done to expand research in this field?
Researches and Studies into the restorative capability of cannabis is infamous for the intricacy of its application measures and the trouble of sourcing cannabis. In Australia, utilizing CBD only – with no particular THC content – in research activities requires the academic institution to apply for an exceptional license to permit it to get and store the cannabinoid, on the grounds that it is as yet a Schedule 9 medication notwithstanding having no psychoactive properties.
The COVID-19 pandemic is probably going to proceed for a long time yet; and this may not be the last novel Coronavirus we face in the course of our life. Subsequently, it is obligatory on all governments and administrations to make considering the capability of substitutive medication, for example, cannabis, a lot simpler for research institutions and private labs to embrace.
The Bottom Line
In conclusion, would it be correct to state that cannabis can be used as a viable treatment for COVID-19? The answer to this is still no, not yet. Despite the fact the hypothesis makes sense, and preliminary results are positive, it is still very early to say conclusively that cannabis or its components are effective and efficient at battling the cause or symptoms of the deadly infection and whether they outdo opposing therapies.
Initial results in models of the disease in cell culture or animal models can on no occasion be presumed to translate to effectiveness in human patients without additional tests and trials. It will likely take some more time or at least six months, if not considered a year, before medicines and vaccines from leading pharmaceutical companies such as Tetra-Bio Pharma progress to late-stage clinical trials and further to market and introduce a cure for Covid-19.