Zika virus outbreak: an overview of the experimental therapeutics and treatment
VirusDis. (April-June
Zika virus outbreak: an overview of the experimental therapeutics and treatment
Shailendra K. Saxena 0 1
Asif Elahi 0 1
Srinivasulu Gadugu 0 1
Anil K. Prasad 0 1
0 CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) , Uppal Road, Hyderabad, TS 500007 , India
1 & Shailendra K. Saxena
Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is a new emerging threat around the globe which might be responsible for microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome in the infants. Recently, ZIKV outbreak has caused a public health crisis in Brazil after being linked to a sharp increase in birth defects. ZIKV is ssRNA virus belongs to the family Flaviviridae. It is mainly transmitted by mosquito bite specifically Aedes species and disease symptoms include fever, joint pain, muscle pain, rash, conjunctivitis, and headache. The reservoir of ZIKV is still not known. Protection at personal level by avoiding mosquito bite would help to reduce the incidence of the disease. Control of ZIKV infection by vaccination or antiviral drug either from modern, complementary and alternative medicines may be considered to be one of the most effective strategies in the long run. Large scale immunization of susceptible human population is highly required to prevent this deadly disease. Attempts should be made as soon as possible to develop effective vaccines or antiviral to prevent ZIKV infection. This article provides a current overview of the experimental therapeutics and treatment options based on modern, complementary and alternative medicines.
Zika virus; Aedes species; Microcephaly; Infectious disease; Treatment; Risk assessment and prevention
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Emergence and re-emergence of infectious disease is a
major concern worldwide for keeping the people healthy
and safe around the globe. Currently, Zika virus (ZIKV)
infection is a new threat worldwide, causing serious health
issue everywhere and researchers believe that this might
be the reason of microcephaly and autoimmune disorder
in the infants. ZIKV is ssRNA Flavivirus categorized
under Flaviviridae family. ZIKV infection is a mosquito
transmitted viral infection, which was isolated in 1947,
from the blood of febrile sentinel rhesus monkey in the
Zika forest of Uganda [8]. For the first time ZIKV was
isolated from Aedes africanus species of mosquito in 1948
from the Zika forest. Later on, a serological survey was
conducted at the same time in the nearby regions of
Uganda and the residents of those regions showed ZIKV
specific antibodies in their blood [7, 8]. In the next two
decades, a number of isolates of ZIKV were taken from
Aedes africanus in Africa while Aedes aegypti in
Malaysia which suggested that these Aedes species are the
vectors of ZIKV epidemic [11, 13, 21]. During routine
arbovirus surveillance studies, many ZIKV isolates were
collected from humans in 1960 and 1970s from West and
East Africa [10, 15, 19]. ZIKV was also detected in
various parts of Africa and South East Asia in 1950 and
1960s [13]. These statistics confirmed the worldwide
presence of ZIKV, spreading from Africa to Southeast
Asia and America. Further, ZIKV infection was confirmed
during an acute fever study in Indonesia in 1977 [16]. The
clinical characteristics of ZIKV infection include rash,
fever, headache, dizziness, malaise, anorexia and stomach
ache [2, 10, 16, 19]. Another outbreak of ZIKV infection
came into light in 2007 in Yap State, Federated States of
Micronesia.
Recently, first case of ZIKV infection was reported in
Brazil in May 2015. Subsequently, outbreaks were reported
throughout the country with high number of congenital
malformations including 3500 cases of microcephaly [9].
After 9 months of arrival of ZIKV, microcephaly cases in
newborns has been tremendously increased in South
America. Additionally, the number of infected patients is
increasing as the time moving on; hence, there is an urgent
need to find the remedy for the eradication of ZIKV
infection for maintaining the heath of the human beings
around the globe.
Overview of cellular process of infection
In spite of the fact that the mechanism of infection of ZIKV
is not studied in detail so far, although, it belongs to the
Flaviviridae family which is well studied Flavivirus group.
Therefore, the replication cycle may be similar like other
Flaviviruses (Fig. 1). However, further research is essential
to ascertain the same. Flaviviruses contain three structure
proteins; the capsid protein C, pre-membrane protein prM,
and the envelope protein E. RNA genome of the virus is
encapsulated in multiple copies of the C protein to frame
the viral nucleocapsid. Virus entry into the cell is mediated
by the envelope proteins in three relatively discrete steps.
The first step involves the attachment of the virus particle
to the cell. Second step is the collisions between virus and
target cells and third step is the attachment factors which
promote infection by increasing the duration of contact
between the virus and cell surface. Flaviviruses ar (...truncated)