Measles virus studies brought a disease prevention
DESCRIPTION
Measles virus is a member of the Paramyxoviridae family of single-stranded negative sense RNA viruses.
It is one of the most infectious microorganisms worldwide, with a primary reproduction rate of 12-18.
Despite the availability of a vaccine, measles causes from 593 to 4 million cases annually, and it's one of the leading cause of childhood death from a diseases that can be stopped with an existing vaccine.
MeV is an airborne pathogen, transmitted by inhalation of respiratory droplets and smaller aerosol.
Initial infection targets susceptible cells in the respiratory tract. A
fter an incubation period of 7 to 10 days, the acute phase is characterized by fever, oculo-respiratory inflammation and Koplick spots.
We show here that aerosolized lipopeptide fusion inhibitors block the virus respiratory infection in a non-human primate model, the cynomolgus macaque.
We used a custom-designed mesh nebulizer to ensure efficient aerosol delivery of peptides to the respiratory tract and demonstrated the absence of adverse effects and lung pathology in macaques.
The nebulized peptide efficiently prevented MeV infection, resulting in the complete absence of its RNA, his infected cells and specific humoral responses.
This strategy provides an additional shield which complements vaccination to fight against respiratory infection.
It present a concept for the aerosol delivery of fusion inhibitory peptides to protect against measles and other airborne viruses, including SARS-CoV-2.
