Desde su descubrimiento los virus han sido objeto de controversia. Incluso su origen no es claro y se debate entre tres teorías: reliquias de la vida pre-celular, “parásitos” intracelulares o genes que escaparon de células y se unieron con unidades funcionales (1). Si bien los virus han sido conocidos por su capacidad para generar enfermedades como el síndrome de inmunodeficiencia humana, síndrome respiratorio agudo grave (SARS) o la hepatitis, es claro que son fuente de diversidad genética y han permitido los procesos evolutivos de casi todos los seres vivos (2).
A pesar de los avances de la ciencia, muchas de las enfermedades generadas por los virus no tienen tratamiento o este no es curativo. Por eso de forma continua se buscan tratamientos curativos o que impacten la evolución de la enfermedad (3) y más ahora en época de esta pandemia debida al COVID-19.
Los productos de la colmena han mostrado efectos interesantes e importantes para varias infecciones virales a continuación, se revisarán sus mecanismos de acción y aplicaciones.
Veneno de abejas
Sobre distintos virus se ha documentado su capacidad para controlar el paso del virus al ambiente intracelular, disminuir su replicación y limitar el número de células infectadas (4). Pueden apreciarse efectos del veneno de abejas sobre diferentes virus:
![](https://apitherapy.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Diapositiva1-2.jpg)
Propóleo
El propóleo ha sido evaluado sobre algunos tipos de virus mostrando efectos antivirales relevantes:
![](https://apitherapy.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Diapositiva2-2.jpg)
Miel de abejas
La miel de abejas posee efectos antivirales:
![](https://apitherapy.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Diapositiva3-1.jpg)
Jalea real
Se ha evaluado el efecto de la jalea real contra el virus herpes simple. La jalea real inhibe la replicación viral y reduce la expresión de proteínas virales (24).
Puede apreciarse que los mecanismos son diversos lo cual abre la posibilidad de emplear los productos de la colmena en una gran cantidad de infecciones virales. La experiencia clínica ha mostrado que en la mayoría de las infecciones virales se logra la reducción de la carga viral, la intensidad sintomática, calidad de vida y facilita su curación.
Referencias bibliográficas
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