title: Management and Treatment of Dengue and Chikungunya - Natural Products to the Rescue.
abstract: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) flourish mostly in impoverished developing nations of the world. It is estimated that NTDs plague up to 1 billion people every year thereby inducing a massive economic and health burden worldwide. Following explosive outbreaks mostly in Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Indian Ocean, two common NTDs namely, Chikungunya and Dengue both transmitted by an infected mosquito vector principally Aedes aegypti have emerged as a major public health threat. Given the limitations of conventional medicine in specifically targeting the Chikungunya and Dengue virus (CHIKV and DENV), natural products present an interesting avenue to explore in the quest of developing novel anti; mosquito, CHIKV and DENV agents. In this endeavor, a number of plant extracts, isolated phytochemicals, essential oils and seaweeds have shown promising larvicidal and insecticidal activity against some mosquito vectors as well as anti CHIKV and DENV activity invitro. Other natural products that have depicted good potential against these diseases include; the symbiotic bacterial genus Wolbachia which can largely reduce the life span and infectivity of mosquito vectors and the marine Cyanobacterium Trichodesmium erythraeum which has shown anti- CHIKV activity at minimal cytotoxic level. The impetus of modern drug discovery approaches such as high throughput screening, drug repositioning, synthesis and computer-aided drug design will undeniably enhance the process of developing more stable lead molecules from natural products which have shown promising antiviral activity in-vitro.
authors.forename: Shanoo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suroowan
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius. f.mahomoodally@uom.ac.mu.
authors.forename: Fawzi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mahomoodally
authors.forename: Luxcha
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ragoo
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000821:virology; D000818:Animals; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001688:Biological Products / Q000737:chemistry*; D065632:Chikungunya Fever / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000635:transmission; D003715:Dengue / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D009032:Mosquito Control; D000072138:Mosquito Vectors / Q000821:virology; D058069:Neglected Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D000998:Antiviral Agents; D001688:Biological Products; D010936:Plant Extracts