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Synthesis and Characterization of Nanoparticles as Potential Viral and Antiviral Agents
Published in Devarajan Thangadurai, Saher Islam, Charles Oluwaseun Adetunji, Viral and Antiviral Nanomaterials, 2022
Deepthi Panoth, Sindhu Thalappan Manikkoth, Fabeena Jahan, Kunnambeth Madam Thulasi, Anjali Paravannoor, Baiju Kizhakkekilikoodayil Vijayan
Viral diseases are becoming a serious global health concern due to their high mortality rate, which greatly impacts socio-economic life. The drug resistance and anomalous replication of viruses made the use of nanotechnology important in antiviral therapies. Currently, various types of nanomaterials, like nanospheres, nanoparticles, nanosuspensions, nanogels nano emulsions, etc., are used for drug delivery because they possess antimicrobial activities against different viruses as antiviral agents and their dimensions are similar to the biomolecules (Ghaffari et al. 2019; Sharma et al. 2019). The antiviral potential of nanoparticles have been reported against several viruses like vaccinia virus, chikungunya virus, influenza virus, herpes simplex virus, monkeypox virus, HIV, hepatitis B virus, etc. as the nanoparticles inhibit the attack of the virus to host cell and thus prevent their entry to the cell. Nanostructures thus can be used to function as either a delivery aid for specific vaccine to acquire immunization of the host, or as nanocarriers to provide diverse therapeutics to the target site, enhancing circulation time by safeguarding the therapeutics from deprivation. Here we present a brief summary of the application of nanosized materials for the treatment of viral infections like the Chikungunya virus, Coronaviruses (CoVs), HIV, H1N1 influenza virus (Heinrich et al. 2020).
Equilibrium analysis for an epidemic model with a reservoir for infection
Published in Letters in Biomathematics, 2018
Istvan Lauko, Gabriella Pinter, Rachel Elizabeth TeWinkel
In this paper we consider an epidemic model motivated by monkeypox, an emerging disease that has become more prevalent recently in several areas of Africa (Bhunu & Mushayabasa, 2011; Bhunu, Mushayabasa, & Hyman, 2012; Damon, 2011; Hammarlund et al., 2005; Hutin et al., 2001; Kantele, Chickering, Vapalahti, & Rimoin, 2016; Levine, Townsend, Carroll, Damon, & Reynolds, 2007; McCollum & Damon, 2014; The Center for Food Security and Public Health, 2013). It is believed that the noticeable increase in monkeypox (Nolen et al., 2016) is linked to the decrease in herd immunity to smallpox (Hutin et al., 2001; Levine et al., 2007; Lloyd-Smith et al., 2009; McCollum & Damon, 2014) due to the phasing out of smallpox vaccinations (Nolen et al., 2016; Rimoin & Graham, 2011; Rimoin et al., 2007, 2010). Hosts of the monkeypox virus include prairie dogs, tree squirrels, chimpanzees, and baboons, but the complete list of pathogen hosts is not known (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015; Reynolds et al., 2013; The Center for Food Security and Public Health, 2013; World Health Organization, 2016). Monkeypox infects both humans and animals, and is generally considered impossible to eradicate (Damon, 2011; Kantele et al., 2016; McCollum & Damon, 2014; Reynolds et al., 2013; Rimoin & Graham, 2011). Humans become infected with the monkeypox virus when they come into direct contact with infected animals or other humans (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015; Hammarlund et al., 2005; Jezek, Arita, Mutombo, & Szczeniowski, 1986; Jezek, Grab, Szczeniowski, Paluku, & Mutombo, 1988; The Center for Food Security and Public Health, 2013; Weaver & Isaacs, 2009; World Health Organization, 2016). Since human-animal cross-infection usually occurs when humans hunt and eat animals, we can assume that animals do not become infected via contact with the human population, but that animals can infect humans (Reynolds et al., 2013). This creates an asymmetric disease transmission between the animal and human populations, and we can effectively treat the animal population as a reservoir for the disease within which disease dynamics are independent from the disease's course in the human population. Monkeypox was explicitly modelled by Bhunu and Mushayabasa and Bhunu, Mushayabasa and Hyman with traditional SIR models in both the animal and human population, and with standard incidence for disease transmission (Bhunu & Mushayabasa, 2011; Bhunu et al., 2012). However, the analysis presented in Bhunu and Mushayabasa (2011) and Bhunu et al. (2012) is not complete, and here we present an alternative full equilibrium analysis for the first model by Bhunu and Mushayabasa, and establish global stability of the endemic equilibrium in both populations under suitable conditions on the parameters (Bhunu & Mushayabasa, 2011). We utilize the theory developed by Markus (1956) and later by Thieme and Castillo-Chavez (Castillo-Chavez & Thieme, 1994; Thieme, 1992) for asymptotically autonomous systems together with the techniques of identifying suitable Lyapunov functions for SIR models with standard incidence described by Vargas-De-León (2011).