Purdue University researchers seek new vaccines and drugs to fight West Nile, EEE, Chikungunya, and other common viruses

National  11/18/09  physorg.com:  Purdue University is leading a team of researchers in a federally funded effort aimed ultimately at developing better vaccines and antiviral drugs against two types of disease-causing viruses. One group, called flaviviruses, includes West Nile and dengue. The other group, called alphaviruses, includes eastern equine encephalitis and chikungunya. (For more information on chikungunya, see the Natural Unseen Hazards Blog post for September 23, 2009.)

The work is led by Richard Kuhn, top left, a professor and head of the Department of Biological Sciences, Michael Rossmann, right standing, the Hanley Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences, and Wen Jiang, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. (Purdue University photo/Andrew Hancock)

Richard Kuhn, a professor and head of the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue, said “Viruses within these two groups pose significant risks to large segments of the population, and methods for controlling infection and disease are few. These are really important human diseases.”

Dengue infects more than 50 million people annually, killing about 24,000 each year, primarily in tropical regions,” Kuhn said. Both types of viruses are transmitted by mosquitoes and sometimes ticks.

“Although these viruses are now mostly restricted to the tropics, as population density increases in cities and there is a greater global movement of people, there is the fear that these viruses are going to gain a greater geographical range,” Kuhn said. “There also is the possibility of terrorists using weapons made from these viruses, so a better understanding of their life cycles could lead to ways to defend against attacks.”

The work is funded with a two-year $4 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant through the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.