Effect of Favipiravir on some epidemic infections: A mini review

Abstract

Abstract Favipiravir is a modern antiviral drug that can be used in developing viral pandemics, such as the Ebola virus, H1N1 flu, Lassa fever, and haemorrhagic fever outbreaks in Argentina in 2009. A. Chain conclusion Favipiravir is transformed to favipiravir-RTP and inserted into the RNA strand that is elongating. Then, since favipiravir acts as a chain terminator, chain elongation slows down at incorporation site of favipiravir and does not continue. The proofreading enzyme cannot repair this complex of RNA-favipiravir and it will be discarded as excessive RNA, which causes the extinction of the viral genome. Mutagenesis with lethal consequences Ribavirin is used in the RNA elongating process until completion. The single strand of RNA with several ribavirin incorporation sites incorporates ribavirin or acts as mRNA for the production of viral proteins. Due to incorporation of ribavirin onto viral RNA, a mismatching of the base pairs (transition mutation) will occur. Translation of this mutated RNA will then cause mutations in the sequence of amino acid residues of the protein, result in impaired of protein function. Viral proteins that have lost their function are unable to replicate or generate infectious viral particles, and the virus is no longer infectious. As a result, lethal mutagenesis ends viral infection in a different way than chain termination. Favipiravir’s clinical trial against Ebola virus-infected patients has not yet been formally approved, and further research is required. Favipiravir, on the other hand, poses a risk of embryo toxicity and teratogenicity. As a result, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor have been approved this medication with recommendations for more clinical use until August 15, 2014, when they approved the use of favipiravir due to the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa. The aim of this review is to investigate the potential impact of favipiravir on infections espectially RNA-virus infections, according to previous published investigations, and thus to encourage rapid approval of this interesting antivirus in emergencies.