title: Tick-borne viruses: a review from the perspective of therapeutic approaches.
abstract: Several important human diseases worldwide are caused by tick-borne viruses. These diseases have become important public health concerns in recent years. The tick-borne viruses that cause diseases in humans mainly belong to 3 families: Bunyaviridae, Flaviviridae, and Reoviridae. In this review, we focus on therapeutic approaches for several of the more important tick-borne viruses from these 3 families. These viruses are Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHF) and the newly discovered tick-borne phleboviruses, known as thrombocytopenia syndromevirus (SFTSV), Heartland virus and Bhanja virus from the family Bunyaviridae, tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), Powassan virus (POWV), Louping-ill virus (LIV), Omsk hemorrhagic fever virus (OHFV), Kyasanur Forest disease virus (KFDV), and Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever virus (AHFV) from the Flaviviridae family. To date, there is no effective antiviral drug available against most of these tick-borne viruses. Although there is common usage of antiviral drugs such as ribavirin for CCHF treatment in some countries, there are concerns that ribavirin may not be as effective as once thought against CCHF. Herein, we discuss also the availability of vaccines for the control of these viral infections. The lack of treatment and prevention approaches for these viruses is highlighted, and we hope that this review may increase public health awareness with regard to the threat posed by this group of viruses.
authors.affiliation: Tropical Infectious Disease Research and Education Centre (TIDREC), Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Rafidah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lani
authors.affiliation: Tropical Infectious Disease Research and Education Centre (TIDREC), Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Moghaddam
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Amin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haghani
authors.affiliation: Tropical Infectious Disease Research and Education Centre (TIDREC), Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Li-Yen
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Tropical Infectious Disease Research and Education Centre (TIDREC), Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Sazaly
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: AbuBakar
authors.affiliation: Tropical Infectious Disease Research and Education Centre (TIDREC), Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: keivan@um.edu.my.
authors.forename: Keivan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zandi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D017282:Tick-Borne Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D013987:Ticks / Q000821:virology*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D014780:Viruses / Q000145:classification*
keywords: Antiviral; Arbovirus; Therapy; Tick-borne disease