Journal of Infectious Diseases & Therapy
Open Access

Abstract

Clinical observations suggested that an antiviral effect of propranolol has confirmed at an observational level for influenza infections, as well as for other viral infections like herpes simplex I and herpes zoster virus infections. A theory of the mechanism of this antiviral effect has been developed, and examples of published observations apparently confirming the antiviral effect of propranolol have been analyzed based on the assumed mechanism. The proposed mechanism is an increased activity of most cells of the immune system via an activation of the cAMP-PKA pathway, reducing the inhibitory impact of some stress-related influences on the immune system. In contrast, in tissues activated by stress the cAMP-PKA pathway is activated by beta-receptor agonists. A larger view concerning the impact of stress on tissues inactivated versus tissues activated by stress is proposed and the potential consequences concerning treatment strategies are presented.

Biography

Karin E Peuschel has studied medicine and molecular biology at the University of Zurich, as well as psychiatry and psychotherapy at the University of Lausanne. She has completed her MD from the University of Zurich, and has worked in research in molecular biology at the University of Zurich. She has obtained Federal Diplomas in general medicine as well as in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. She is currently Head of Department at the Meissenberg Clinic in Zug, Switzerland. She has published 7 papers indexed in PubMed and has been presenting her work at various conferences. She has been invited to conferences in Europe, the US, China, Japan, Thailand, India and the United Arab Emirates.

Email: karin@swissmail.com