Case report on recovery from Japanese encephalitis virus infection by complementary use of phytolacca-mother tincture and in silico analysis

Phytolacca Americana L. or pokeweed has medicinal application against inflammation, arthritis, and viral fever infections in traditional medicines. Its mother tincture in the homeopathic system of medicine is used for many of these disease conditions. This is the first case study reporting the beneficial effects of Phytolacca-mother tincture against Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV) infection in an intensive care unit (ICU) patient. A 42-year-old male patient with JEV infection failed to respond to conventional therapy. Following this, he was administered pokeweed tincture orally, two drops three times daily along with conventional therapy. Gradually the patient recovered and after two months of treatment, the patient was discharged with neurological sequelae. The anti-JEV basis of pokeweed was investigated by in silico analysis. The antiviral protein of pokeweed which has earlier been reported to inhibit viral RNA synthesis was shown to have the affinity for nonstructural protein (NS5) of JEV by use of protein-protein docking. Esculentic acid of pokeweed was also predicted to have a strong affinity for NS3 and NS5 of JEV. It was also found to be a potent inhibitor of multiple targets which have the potential to mediate antiviral action. Considering the possibilities of both direct and indirect interferences of pokeweed phytoconstituents with JEV proteins, it can be suggested that pokeweed mother tincture can be a good complementary antiviral therapy against JEV infection.