The Use of Antimalarial Drugs against Viral Infection

• Published in: Microorganisms (Basel) Vol. 8; no. 1; p. 85
• Main Authors: D'Alessandro, Sarah, Scaccabarozzi, Diletta, Signorini, Lucia, Perego, Federica, Ilboudo, Denise P, Ferrante, Pasquale, Delbue, Serena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 08-01-2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Aminoquinolines; Antiinfectives and antibacterials; antimalarial drugs; Antimicrobial agents; Antiviral agents; Artemisinin; Chinese medicine; Cytomegalovirus; Dengue fever; Disease; Drug development; Drug resistance; Drugs; emerging infections; Exocrine glands; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis C; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Human papillomavirus; In vivo methods and tests; Infections; Malaria; Patients; Review; Stem cell transplantation; Vector-borne diseases; Viral diseases; Viral infections; Viruses; viruses; antimalarial drugs; emerging infections
• ISSN: 2076-2607; 2076-2607
• DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms8010085

In recent decades, drugs used to treat malaria infection have been shown to be beneficial for many other diseases, including viral infections. In particular, they have received special attention due to the lack of effective antiviral drugs against new emerging viruses (i.e., HIV, dengue virus, chikungunya virus, Ebola virus, etc.) or against classic infections due to drug-resistant viral strains (i.e., human cytomegalovirus). Here, we reviewed the in vitro/in vivo and clinical studies conducted to evaluate the antiviral activities of four classes of antimalarial drugs: Artemisinin derivatives, aryl-aminoalcohols, aminoquinolines, and antimicrobial drugs.