New drug to stop measles virus

New drug to fight measles

04/17/2014

Although there is an effective vaccine against the highly contagious infectious disease, measles remains a worldwide problem. A new tablet could protect against the disease in the future and stop its spread. "But the only safe protection remains vaccination," as scientists from Germany and the United States report that submitted a joint science work.

Drug protects infected from disease
Measles are among the highly contagious infectious diseases that are spread worldwide. German and US researchers have now succeeded in developing a new drug that could protect infected people from a disease and prevent the spread of the virus. As shown in animal experiments, the active substance inhibits the multiplication of the virus in the body and protects the animals from a fatal disease course. This was reported by the scientists of the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI) in Langen in Hesse and Georgia State University Atlanta in the USA on Wednesday in the online edition of the journal „Science Translational Medicine“.

Treatment led to immune protection against measles virus
The active substance was tested on a PET experiment on ferrets. The researchers used a very close relatives of the measles virus, the canine distemper virus, for the study. For untreated ferrets, infection with this virus is deadly. On the other hand, when the animals were treated with the novel inhibitor for 14 days from the third day after infection, all ferrets survived the infection. In addition, the treatment resulted in an immune protection against the measles virus and a re-infection had no consequences.

The drug could be produced inexpensively
In addition, the drug could prevent the spread of the virus in case of local outbreaks and protect those around an infected person who has not yet developed any symptoms. According to the researchers, the agent could be produced inexpensively and administered orally. In the development of drugs against viruses, the key hurdle is often the development of resistance, since the funds are then largely ineffective. However, experiments with some resistant virus variants have shown that the infectious disease they triggered was weakened or the course of the infection slowed down. The head of veterinary medicine at the PEI, Veronika von Messling, said: „Our investigations also allow the prediction that such resistance would not spread in the population“, especially since measles outbreaks are usually locally limited.

The vaccine remains the only safe protection against measles infections
However, before the drug could be used in humans, the experts say further research is needed. So the drug should be tested next on monkeys. In addition, the scientists pointed out that the measles vaccine would not be replaced by the drug. As the PEI emphasized, the vaccine was „the only safe and effective protection against measles infections.“ The remedy could, however, close implants and serve as a second weapon against the measles. Since it takes about two weeks from the infection to the onset of the disease, the drug could be useful for non-vaccinated people. Richard Plemper, biochemist at Georgia State University, said: „In the incubation period, the virus load in the body increases. In this phase, the virus is the most vulnerable and most sensitive to an antiviral drug.“

Measles should be eradicated worldwide
Every year around 150,000 people worldwide still die of measles each year. And this despite the fact that in 2012 a total of 194 countries had agreed to the Global Vaccine Action Plan to stem measles worldwide. Among other things, this plan envisages a reduction of at least 95 percent in the number of registered mates by the end of 2015. It also aims to eradicate measles in at least five of the six WHO regions by the end of 2020. Measles have so far only been eradicated on the American continent.

Permanent vaccination committee advises vaccination
Because of the picking in the population, there are always outbreaks in Germany as well. Last year, 1,775 cases of measles were reported to the Robert Koch Institute in Germany alone. The World Health Organization (WHO) originally set itself the target of eliminating measles in Europe by 2010, but due to insufficient vaccination rates in many countries, a new target for 2015 was targeted. The Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) of the RKI has been advising on measles vaccination since 1974. Not only children should therefore be vaccinated, but also adults who were born after 1970, if they do not know their vaccination status or were never or only once vaccinated. (Sb)