Thus, in light of the antiviral effect of GA on established viral infections of permissive cells, GA potentially could be used to treat acute viral infections (e.g. Coronavirus (COVID-19), EBOV, ZIKV, IAV and measles), and it might be determined to be useful in topical application for the successful treatment of active lesions (e.g. HSV-1, HSV-2 and VZV). Finally, our approach for GA usage to inhibit enveloped virus infection is fundamentally different from traditional microbicidal strategies that target virus genome replication. We anticipate that it could complement other direct antiviral agents and offer a new class of inhibitors of enveloped and non-enveloped viruses.