Abstract
Mayaro virus (MAYV) is an emergent alphavirus that causes MAYV fever. It is often associated with debilitating symptoms, particularly arthralgia and myalgia. MAYV infection is becoming a considerable health issue that, unfortunately, lacks a specific antiviral treatment. Favipiravir, a broad-spectrum antiviral drug, has recently been shown to exert anti-MAYV activity in vitro. In the present study, the potential of Favipiravir to inhibit MAYV replication in an in vivo model was evaluated. Immunocompetent mice were orally administrated 300 mg/kg/dose of Favipiravir at pre-, concurrent-, or post-MAYV infection. The results showed a significant reduction in infectious viral particles and viral RNA transcripts in the tissues and blood of the pre- and concurrently treated infected mice. A significant reduction in the presence of both viral RNA transcript and infectious viral particles in the tissue and blood of pre- and concurrently treated infected mice was observed. By contrast, Favipiravir treatment post-MAYV infection did not result in a reduction in viral replication. Interestingly, Favipiravir strongly decreased the blood levels of the liver disease markers aspartate- and alanine aminotransferase in the pre- and concurrently treated MAYV-infected mice. Taken together, these results suggest that Favipiravir is a potent antiviral drug when administered in a timely manner.
Highlights
Mayaro virus (MAYV) is a zoonotic arbovirus that is widespread in South America and the Caribbean islands, where it has caused sporadic outbreaks [1,2]
Most importantly, debilitating arthralgia has been reported in MAYV-infected patients, similar to that reported in patients infected by other arthritogenic alphaviruses, such as Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), Sindbis virus (SINV), O’nyong nyong virus, and Ross
Given that tendon fibroblasts are one of the main target cells for MAYV, the same experiment was conducted with the latter cells and the inhibition of viral replication was observed at IC50% of 0.06 ± 0.03 μM
Summary
Mayaro virus (MAYV) is a zoonotic arbovirus that is widespread in South America and the Caribbean islands, where it has caused sporadic outbreaks [1,2]. MAYV is the etiologic agent of MAYV Fever and was first isolated in 1954 from five rural workers in southeastern. The isolation of the virus from a five-year-old boy in Haiti in 2015 indicated that MAYV had migrated to the Caribbean and was actively circulating [4,5]. RNA-enveloped virus that belongs to the Alphavirus genus [6]. MAYV is an arthritogenic alphavirus and symptoms of acute infection include headaches, vomiting, fever, diarrhea and rash, which are sometimes associated with myalgia [9]. Most importantly, debilitating arthralgia has been reported in MAYV-infected patients, similar to that reported in patients infected by other arthritogenic alphaviruses, such as Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), Sindbis virus (SINV), O’nyong nyong virus, and Ross
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