Antiviral activity of mycosynthesized silver nanoparticles against Herpes Simplex virus and Human Parainfluenza Virus Type 3

The interaction of AgNPs with viruses is attracting great interest owing to their potential antiviral activity and to the many efforts to treat infectious diseases. In this work, we demonstrate that silver nanoparticles undergo a size-dependent interaction with HSV-1 and HSV-2 and with HPIV-3. We show that production of AgNPs is feasible from different fungi, and the antiviral activity is dependent on the production system used. AgNPs are capable to reduce viral infectivity, probably blocking the interaction of the virus with the cell which might be dependent on size and zeta potential value of AgNPs. Nanoparticles of lower size are able to inhibit infectivity of the analysed viruses.