**6.13 Antiviral activity**

Different types of compounds obtained from plant origin have been shown to exhibit antiviral activity against some virus including herpes simplex virus those chemical constituents which are having antiviral activity includes alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, terpenes, saponins, quinines, polysaccharides, steroidal glycoside proanthocyanidin and proteins [63]. Herpes simplex virus is of two types HSV-1 and HSV-2. Acyclovir has been used for the treatment of viral disease since 1970 [64]. Other types of antiviral drugs used such as ganciclovir, foscarnet and cidofovir that target herpes-virus DNA polymerases [65]. In the study it was evaluate that the methanolic extract of *A. aspera*having antiviral activity. Its constituent oleanolic acid also possessed antiherpes activity. The methanolioc extract of *A. aspera*was found to be weak anti-herpes activity (EC50 64.4 μg/ml for HSV-1 and EC50 72.8 μg/ ml for HSV-2). On the other hand, oleanolic acid possessed potent anti-herpes virus activity against both HSV-1 (EC50 6.8 μg/ml) and HSV-2 (EC50 7.8 μg/ml) [12].
