A Chinese drug could help manage outbreaks of Nipah and prevent the spread of the deadly virus that has no vaccine or cure, researchers have said.
The virus has a fatality rate of up to 75 per cent and the most recent outbreak in the Indian state of West Bengal has infected at least five people.
While the virus has no approved treatment, researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology have found that VV116 – an oral antiviral drug originally developed to treat Covid-19 – allowed two-thirds of infected hamsters to survive a dose that would otherwise prove lethal.
“This finding is the first to demonstrate the therapeutic potential of VV116 against Nipah virus,” the institute said on Monday.
An oral dose of VV116 increased the survival rate of golden hamsters to 66.7 per cent, and reduced the amount of the virus present in the lungs, spleen and brain, which are the target organs of the infection.
“It can be used not only as a preventive drug for high-risk groups such as healthcare workers and laboratory workers, but also as a readily available drug option for dealing with current and future Nipah virus outbreaks,” the institute said.
The findings by researchers from the Wuhan institute, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lingang Laboratory and Vigonvita Life Sciences Shanghai – institutes that jointly developed the drug – were published in the peer-reviewed journal Emerging Microbes & Infections in November.
The Nipah virus was first identified during an outbreak in Malaysia between 1998 and 1999 and was later reported in Bangladesh and India in 2001, according to the paper.
Neurological symptoms that can emerge days or weeks after infection include altered consciousness, confusion and seizures, according to the World Health Organization.
Infection can lead to severe respiratory illness and, in the most severe cases, encephalitis or inflammation of the brain, which can progress to coma and death.
The fatality rate ranges from 40 to 75 per cent, according to the WHO.
The virus can be transmitted from Pteropus fruit bats directly to humans, through intermediate hosts such as pigs and horses, or from human to human. The initial outbreak in Malaysia resulted from contact with sick pigs or their tissues.
Several outbreaks in Bangladesh and India that have occurred over the years are thought to be caused by the consumption of fruit and fruit products such as raw date palm juice that has been contaminated with saliva or urine from infected bats, according to the WHO.
The WHO has classified Nipah as a priority disease for research and development, particularly following an outbreak in the Indian state of Kerala in May 2018, which resulted in at least 17 deaths.
Studies have found several compounds that inhibit Nipah virus infection, though no drugs have been licensed for clinical use.
The Chinese team found that VV116, which has been approved to treat Covid-19 in mainland China and Uzbekistan, showed antiviral properties against two distinct Malaysian and Bangladeshi strains of the virus, the latter of which is behind the outbreaks in India.
The researchers said further research was needed to identify exactly how VV116 inhibited the virus, but suggested it may follow a similar mechanism to its anti-coronavirus activity.
The researchers said that due to the established safety of the drug for human use, VV116 should be considered as a therapeutic option for the virus.
In December, a Nipah vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford became the world’s first to enter a phase 2 human clinical trial.
The vaccine being tested on participants in Bangladesh was developed using the same viral vector platform as the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, according to the university.-- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
