A new antiviral could stop measles before an outbreak takes off
Scientists have developed an oral antiviral drug that successfully prevents the transmission of a measles-like virus in animal models. The drug could serve as a critical tool to augment vaccination efforts during outbreaks.
Why it matters
As measles outbreaks rise globally, this drug offers a potential new method to contain the spread of the highly contagious disease.
Researchers at Georgia State University have developed an experimental oral antiviral that prevented a measles-like virus from spreading between ferrets through both close contact and the air. The treatment also reduced symptoms when it was given either shortly before or shortly after exposure.
The findings, published in Nature Microbiology , come from scientists at the Center for Translational Antiviral Research (CTAR). Their work focused on canine distemper virus, which produces a disease in ferrets that closely resembles measles.
Antiviral Blocks Two Routes of Transmission
The researchers tested a recently developed drug candidate called GHP-88310 (described in Science Advances). The medication is a broad-spectrum inhibitor of the viral polymerase, an enzyme the virus needs in order to reproduce.
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