Thyme Provides Antiviral Protection against Herpes and Other Viruses

Ebola is only one of many viruses that have been found among animals and transmissible to humans. While Ebola isn’t the first outbreak to catch public attention over the past few decades, it also likely won’t be the last. The question lies – what is our long-term strategy to prevent future outbreaks? And how do we protect ourselves from getting a viral infection? Increasing research has determined that plants provide some of the most promising opportunities to prevent the outbreak of these viruses, because not only are they easily cultivated and distributed, but they provide a source of resistance to viral outbreaks. Case in point is Thymus vulgaris – Thyme. Thyme has been found to contain multiple antiviral constituents, including thymol, camphor, borneol, carvacrol, terpinenes, pinenes, cymene, terpinenols, citral and cineoles. These and others have been found to be specifically antiviral, but more importantly, in combination, the plant and its essential oils provide significant antiviral protection. And the mechanism of this antiviral protection appears to be related to the same properties found among other studies – of interfering with the glycoprotein molecule lined envelope that surrounds many of the most virulent viruses.