“AyurVirDB” Ayurvedic database for virus cure

Background & Objective: Ayurveda, the “Mother of all healing”, has existed for over 5,000 years and hence is considered to be the oldest healing science. Ayurveda states that the mind can heal and transform a person's whole being as the mind and body are associated. Herbs are the heart of Ayurvedic belief. They are used to boost defense against diseases and viruses and keep the brain, body, and soul in complete balance. Although ayurvedic medicines and herbs have natural components, they should still be used with certain precautions under the supervision of a medical practitioner. This study aims to manually curate information for the various ayurvedic medicinal herbs that have antiviral activity against harmful viruses. Methods: Detailed information is collected from the literature regarding the following (a) types of viruses (b) which particular category they belong to(c) the respective components of herbs that are responsible for curing viruses. We developed a web interface with the help of php and mysql to get the desired output. Results: The database consists of 104 viruses and 704 natural components. The web server is available at: http://ayurvir.com. Interpretation & Conclusion: We believe that AyurVirDB database will be extremely beneficial for the research community. It not only aids in investigations of Ayurvedic medicinal plants and their components. On the emergence or re-emergence of a virus, one could be able to predict the ayurvedic plants/herbs used for viral treatment based on virus similarity or disease symptoms.