Isolation of infectious chikungunya virus and dengue virus using anionic polymer-coated magnetic beads.

Mosquitoes-borne viruses are a major threat for human populations. Among them, chikungunya virus (CHIKV) and dengue virus (DENV) cause thousands of cases worldwide. The recent propagation of mosquito vectors competent to transmit these viruses to temperate areas increases their potential impact on susceptible human populations. The development of sensitive methods allowing the detection and isolation of infectious viruses is of crucial interest for determination of virus contamination in humans and in competent mosquito vectors. However, simple and rapid method allowing the capture of infectious CHIKV and DENV from samples with low viral titers useful for further genetic and functional characterization of circulating strains is lacking. The present study reports a fast and sensitive isolation technique based on viral particles adsorption on magnetic beads coated with anionic polymer, poly(methyl vinyl ether-maleic anhydrate) and suitable for isolation of infectious CHIKV and DENV from the four serotypes. Starting from quite reduced biological material, this method was accurate to combine with conventional detection techniques, including qRT-PCR and immunoblotting and allowed isolation of infectious particles without resorting to a step of cultivation. The use of polymer-coated magnetic beads is therefore of high interest for rapid detection and isolation of CHIKV and DENV from samples with reduced viral loads and represents an accurate approach for the surveillance of mosquito vector in area at risk for arbovirus outbreaks.

Safety and tolerability of elubaquine (bulaquine, CDRI 80/53) for treatment of Plasmidium vivax malaria in Thailand

We conducted a study to compare the safety and tolerability of anti-relapse drugs elubaquine and primaquine against Plasmodium vivax malaria. After standard therapy with chloroquine, 30 mg/kg given over 3 days, 141 patients with P. vivax infection were randomized to receive primaquine or elubaquine. The 2 treatment regimens were primaquine 30 mg once daily for 7 days (group A, n = 71), and elubaquine 25 mg once daily for 7 days (group B, n = 70). All patients cleared parasitemia within 7 days after chloroquine treatment. Among patients treated with primaquine, one patient relapsed on day 26; no relapse occurred with elubaquine treatement. Both drugs were well tolerated. Adverse effects occurred only in patients with G6PD deficiency who were treated with primaquine (group A, n = 4), whose mean hematocrit fell significantly on days 7, 8 and 9 (P = 0.015, 0.027, and 0.048, respectively). No significant change in hematocrit was observed in patients with G6PD deficiency who were treated with elubaquine (group B, n = 3) or in patients with normal G6PD. In conclusion, elubaquine, as anti-relapse therapy for P. vivax malaria, was as safe and well tolerated as primaquine and did not cause clinically significant hemolysis.