Anti-Infective Agents Against Flavivirus

Abstract

Flavivirus become a re-emerging problem to humans and animals. Through the availability of efficient whole inactivated viral vaccines against Yellow Fever (YF), Japanese Encephalitis (JEV), the burden of these two diseases has been minimized to some extent. Restrictions in the use of these vaccines, accessibility and cost for these usage in places where the disease is endemic and failures in attempt to produce vaccines against Dengue virus (DENV), West Nile virus (WNV), has prompted to go for other effective anti-viral strategies. Incomplete understanding in the host immune mechanism, lack of suitable animal models is the main reasons for the unavailability of an effective antiviral treatment. Hence supportive measures and symptomatic treatment are the only available choice. In this chapter, the major vaccines currently available against flavivirus and new approaches utilized for designing novel vaccine candidates and antiviral agents targeting various pathways in the flavivirus life-cycle are discussed.

Keywords: Anti-infective agents, arbo-viruses, dengue virus, flavivirus, Japanese encephalitis virus, mosquito pathogens, non-structural genes, structural genes, vaccines, yellow fever virus, West Nile virus.