ABSTRACT
Known antiviral compounds still present significant drawbacks, such as a narrow spectrum of activity, limited therapeutic usefulness and variable degrees of toxicity (Van den Berghe et al. 1978). On the other hand, the prevalence of virally related diseases is of growing concern; therefore, the development of new and better antiviral compounds is desirable. It has been shown that viruses respond differently to plant extracts, and suggested that natural products are preferable to synthetic compounds as sources of new antiviral agents (Van den Berghe et al. 1978; Vlietinck and Van den Berghe 1991).
