Now this will be interesting

From Sci-News:

Scientists Discover First ‘Virological Penicillin’
Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) is a well-known Chinese herb. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it has been used to effectively treat influenza infection for centuries.

Several previous studies have confirmed that the herb, usually consumed in the form of a tea, can suppress the replication of influenza virus.

However, the active anti-viral components and the mechanism by which they block viral replication have remained unclear.

Now, a team of researchers headed by Dr Chen-Yu Zhang of Nanjing University in China has identified MIR2911 (honeysuckle-encoded atypical microRNA2911) as the first active component directly targeting various influenza viruses, including the swine flu H1N1, highly pathogenic avian H5N1 and H7N9 infections.

MIR2911 represses influenza viruses by targeting PB2 and NS1, two genes that are known to be required for influenza viral replication.

This has the potential to be big - there are drugs that can weaken viruses but to have a drug that actually kills them would be fantastic. Nobel Prize material if it pans out...