# Mushroom Nutrition as Preventative Healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa
## 6 The Antiviral Role of Mushrooms
### HIV/AIDS  
We have previously reviewed this subject [134], and the pathogenesis of the disease is considered multifactorial. Nutrition is a fundamental part of a comprehensive package of care for people living with HIV/AIDS, and mushrooms supply bioactive molecules that may help patients [110]. To cushion the repercussion of the disease, widespread, action taken must integrate all elements involved, including nutritional care [135]. To assess and reduce the severity of the complex interaction that HIV/AIDS and malnutrition have on each other, it is essential to forecast the evolution of the disease and the probability of morbidity and death toll [136].  
Mushroom \(\beta\)-glucans increase CD4 cells production and stimulate the immune system macrophages. Even when infected with HIV, the macrophages fight effectively and reduce HIV replication [137]. Several triterpenes from _Ganoderma lucidum_ are active as antiviral agents against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) [138].  
In addition to polysaccharides and triterpenoids displaying a variety of medicinal properties, mushrooms contain many antimicrobial factors, which include lentinan, ganaderiol-F, ganaderiol-\(\beta\), lucidumol, PSP, coprinol, campestrin, sparassol, armillaric acid, cortinellin, and ustilagic acid [139; 140; 141]. These active compounds fight viruses in two major ways: (a) they boost the immune system: directly (specific response) and/or through various factors of humoral and cellular immunity [142]; and (b) they attack the virus directly, which prevents the proliferation of viruses and can stop viral infections from developing [143].  
Direct antiviral effects include inhibition of viral enzymes, synthesis of viral nucleic acids, and adsorption or uptake of viruses [144]. Indirect antiviral effects are achieved by stimulating the immune response against the viral invasion and promoting biochemical factors, such as alkalinity, which discourage viral replication [145]. In many mushrooms, \(\beta\)-glucans, glycoproteins, melanins, terpenoids, and nucleosides displayed antiviral activity [146].  
Through the lymphotropic nature of the virus HIV-1, it infects humans, and the function of the lymph node is disrupted, the production of dendritic cells is increased, and there is accumulation in lymph nodes, presenting exogenous microbial antigens [147].  
Drug resistance to anti-HIV drugs is emerging, and many people infected with HIV have serious adverse reactions. Antiviral compounds from mushrooms (e.g., triterpenes, phenolic compounds, ergosterol peroxide, and purine derivatives) are strong biotherapeutics acting directly on the pathways of enzymatic system of the human host, regulating the interactions between viral and components of the human cell [148].  
They may also act by inhibiting viral enzymes carried within the capsid and on the viral envelope, while some are only produced in the infected cell [149]. The antiviral compounds of mushrooms also may condition the virus genome intervening on the synthesis pathway of viral nucleic acids and its penetration of viruses into cells [150].