Fig. 1.

Common features of COVID-19 and influenza viruses (A) and preventive effects of ginseng on influenza virus and bacterial pneumonia (B).

Influenza virus attenuates innate immunity and subsequently increases susceptibility to secondary bacterial infection, resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. Consistently, COVID-19 attenuates innate immunity and increases inflammatory cytokine secretion, resulting in pneumonia. Korean ginseng has been shown to be helpful to prevent influenza and pneumococcal pneumonia and may be helpful for alleviating COVID-19 infection.