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Biosecurity Briefing
Outbreak of Monkeypox in Congo; New Drug Found to Reduce Mortality Rate from Monkeypox in Animal Study By Crystal Franco, September 28, 2007 On September 27, 2007, IRIN Humanitarian News and Analysis—the news outlet for the United Nations (U.N.) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs—reported that since the beginning of 2007, rapid diagnostic tests have confirmed 62 “probable” cases and at least 150 suspected cases of monkeypox in humans in the Republic of Congo. According to IRIN, the population most seriously affected by the outbreak thus far is refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who are under the age of 15.1 Monkeypox is “primarily a disease of rodents and nonhuman primates,” however it can spread to humans, causing “illness that resembles smallpox but generally is less severe.” According to IRIN, this large outbreak in the Republic of Congo raises new concerns about the disease’s ability to spread in humans. “If we neglect the virus and let it evolve, it will become more virulent and lethal,” said Jean-Vivien Mombouli, the director of research at the national public health laboratory in the Republic of Congo.1 Monkeypox has no treatment and no vaccine. “The recovery [from monkeypox] is spontaneous.” Experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plan to visit the Congo in the coming week to help determine the origin of the monkeypox outbreak which is yet unknown.1 In related news, New York City-based biotechnology company SIGA Technologies, Inc. announced on September 26, 2007, that its “lead smallpox drug, ST-246” has demonstrated 100% protection against death in primates infected with monkeypox. A range of doses of the drug was tested as part of a primate trial held at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). According to the SIGA press release, the amount of monkeypox virus to which each animal in the study was exposed is “usually fatal absent ST-246 (all of the control subjects died).”2 The results of the study show that “ST-246 reduced [monkeypox] lesion formation, reduced viral load and prevented death in all animals with no obvious toxicity. Furthermore, the test included a range of dosages (100 mg/kg to 3 mg/kg) of ST-246, and all were effective.” SIGA Technologies Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Dennis Hruby feels that with this study data it is possible that “ST-246 can be used to prevent mortality in humans even several days after elaboration of symptoms. Furthermore, the protection afforded by modest drug doses further enhances [SIGA’s] confidence that a protective level in humans can be achieved with a low risk of toxicity.”2 ST-246 is eligible for purchase for the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) under Project BioShield, and in December 2005 the FDA granted “fast-track” status to ST-246.2 References
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