Abstract

VIRUCIDAL EFFECT OF DABUR RED TOOTHPASTE, AN AYURVEDIC PREPARATION, ON ENVELOPED HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS TYPE 1 IN VITRO

Amit Sirdesai, Amit Gupta, Ranjan Mitra and Prasun Bandyopadhyay, Kumari Sneha and Jyoti Sree Unnithan*

Abstract

HSV infections are one of the most common viral infections all over the world and infects a variety of host tissue. Herpes simplex virus is an enveloped virus and is very contagious leading to diseases ranging from superficial infections to life-threatening ones. This virus is transmitted from person to person through infected saliva (either directly, or by drinking from the same glass or cup) or by skin contact. Signs of infection comprise of painful red fluid-filled blisters on the mouth, lips, and tongue, depicting the importance of oral health care. Though there are approved conventional oral antiviral therapies, such as acyclovir (Zovirax) and others, emergence of resistant virus in recent years due to frequent use led to focus on employing traditionalapproach for treatment of HSV-1. Therefore, the effect of Dabur Red toothpaste was investigated, which is an ayurvedic preparation comprised of potent Ayurvedic herbs against HSV-1 to kill the virus. The efficacy was determined by incubating the virus with the toothpaste for definite contact time (2 min). Subsequently, virus was neutralized and added to confluent layer of host VERO cells. Endpoint titer (50% Tissue culture infectious dose, TCID50) and the log reduction value (LRV) was determined. In conclusion, the data demonstrated that Dabur Red toothpaste possess potent virucidal activity against Herpes Simplex Virus Type-1, with a Log reduction value (LRV) of 3.04 log (99.9% reduction).

Keywords: Herpes, antiviral therapy, ayurvedic herbs, Dabur Red toothpaste, virucidal.