{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,26]],"date-time":"2026-06-26T19:44:49Z","timestamp":1782503089557,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,23]],"date-time":"2020-04-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1587600000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The whole world is currently facing an unseen enemy, called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is causing a global pandemic. This disease is caused by a novel single-stranded enveloped RNA virus, known as the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Although huge efforts are being made to produce effective therapies to combat this disease, it continues to be one of the greatest challenges in medicine. There is no doubt that herpesviruses are one of the most important viruses that infect humans and animals, and infections induced by these pathogens have developed into a great threat to public health. According to the currently available evidence, the correlation between herpesviruses and coronaviruses is limited to the induced complications following the infections. For instance, the inflammation that is induced at the sites of infection could tie these viruses to each other in a relationship. Another example, bovine herpesvirus 1, which is an important pathogen of cattle, can cause a severe respiratory infection; the same way in which SARS-CoV-2 affects humans. Considering the current circumstances related to the COVID-19 crisis, this editorial paper, which belongs to the Special Issue \u201cRecent Advances in Herpesviruses Research: What\u2019s in the Pipeline?\u201d aims to draw attention to some natural anti-herpesvirus alkaloid compounds, which have recently been proven to have excellent inhibitory efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 replication. Thus, this special focus is an attempt to hunt down various treatment options to combat COVID-19 based on repurposing drugs that are known to have multiple antiviral properties, including against herpesvirus.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v12040476","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,23]],"date-time":"2020-04-23T10:46:22Z","timestamp":1587638782000},"page":"476","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":20,"title":["Shedding Light on the Effect of Natural Anti-Herpesvirus Alkaloids on SARS-CoV-2: A Treatment Option for COVID-19"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3922-2738","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sherif T. S.","family":"Hassan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kam\u00fdck\u00e1 129, 6-Suchdol, 16521 Prague, Czech Republic"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2020, April 15). Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) situation reports 2020. Available online: https:\/\/www.who.int\/emergencies\/diseases\/novel-coronavirus-2019\/situation-reports."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"315","DOI":"10.1021\/acscentsci.0c00272","article-title":"Research and Development on Therapeutic Agents and Vaccines for COVID-19 and Related Human Coronavirus Diseases","volume":"6","author":"Liu","year":"2020","journal-title":"ACS Cent. 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