Treatments remain effective for Mpox says study
15 Jan 2023
Joint research by British and German institutions suggest that current drugs used to combat the global monkeypox outbreak remain effective.
Researchers from Kent University of Kent and Germany’s Goethe University and Dr Petra Joh Research Institute studied the three available drugs for monkeypox treatment - tecovirimat, cidofovir, and brincidofovir.
They said the current monkeypox outbreak differed from predecessors in terms of disease transmission and symptoms, which had caused concern that the current virus might have changed to affect its sensitivity to drugs available.
Monkeypox virus is related to the variola virus that caused deadly smallpox outbreaks, before it was eradicated in the late 1970s. Despite monkeypox’s lower mortality, about one in 10 patients require hospital treatment.
The international team, led by Professor Martin Michaelis (School of Biosciences, University of Kent) and Professor Jindrich Cinatl (Institute of Medical Virology, Goethe-University and Dr Petra Joh Research Institute), isolated and cultivated viruses from 12 patients of the current monkeypox outbreak in cell culture to test their response to the drugs.
Professor Martin Michaelis, University of Kent, described the findings as reassuring, adding that the outcome indicated available antiviral drugs remained effective against viruses from the current outbreak.
Professor Jindrich Cinatl of Goethe University and Dr Petra Joh Research Institute, added: “We were really concerned that the virus could have changed and become resistant to the available therapies. It is good to see that this is not the case.”
Their study 'Drug sensitivity of currently circulating monkeypox viruses' is published in the New England Journal of Medicine here.
Pic: Martin Lopez
