Tuesday, January 15, 2019

New Chemotherapy for Viruses


A team of scientists in Hong Kong recently announced their latest discovery of chemical that can be used in the treatment of viral infectious diseases, namely Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars).

This chemical is a broad-spectrum antiviral drug, which means it can kill a multitude of viruses compared to a vaccine that can only target one strain. The method by which this is done involves starving the viruses by interrupting the lipids in its replication pathway. By attacking the replication process, there is little concern for the development of viral resistance.

However, this drug is not without its concerns. Since it does attack necessary compounds in the human host cell, there is likely to be damage and side effects of which the extent is unknown.

This drug is still in it’s early stages of development, currently being tested on a wider variety of animals such as primates. We will likely not see it being used in humans for another 10 or so years. If approved, this chemical would allow us to stop a viral epidemic without any development time thanks to it being applicable to any viruses. We would gain a great ally in the world of epidemic control.

-Mailo Numazu

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