Viral Disease Prevention & Treatment Flashcards
What are some weak spots in behavioral modifications for prevention?
limited use (short-term), only work for as long as the at risk group is willing to modify the behavior, need lots of education and advocacy
How do masks help prevent infection?
it traps droplets that would fly out of people’s mouthes
When is masking used?
used to prevent spreading of diseases in operating rooms and from people with respiratory diseases (like TB)
How does condom use help prevent HIV?
the best way to reduce STI transmission among sexually active individuals; encourage use among MSM
What is a needle exchange program?
community program focused on providing safer-use materials to people who inject drugs (PWID)
What do needle exchange programs do?
facilitate safe disposal of used syringes; can offer general healthcare screenings and ID testing
When did vaccination start?
dates back to 11th century Chinese and Indian physicians; Edward Jenner
What is the prevalence of small pox?
essentially eradicated due to vaccination
What categories of vaccines are there?
1) inactivation
2) attenuation
3) subviral
4) nucleic acid-based
What is attenuation?
replication competent attenuated virus vaccine
What is subviral?
virus-like particle vaccine, viral protein
What is nucleic acid-based?
replication competent virus vector vaccine
What do inactivated viruses do?
don’t induce as strong of an immune response, may be given in multiple doses
What is an adjuvant?
substances that increase the innate immune responses
What is herd immunity?
most of a population is vaccinated/immune which prevents the spread of infectious disease; requires significant fraction of the population
How can we prevent influenza?
annual vaccine (inactivated or live attenuated), natural immunity, and prophylactic drugs
How do we prevent COVID-19?
vaccines (mRNA, viral vector, and bivalent booster shot)
What can prevent Mpox?
vaccination (Jyenneos smallpox vaccine) for essential workers/those at risk for acquiring it (sex is big transmitter)
What is immunotherapy?
treatment method using immune components to stimulate/skew an immune response; can decrease immunosuppression
What are antiviral drugs?
drugs focus on blocking viral functions, only about 90 for 9 viral illnesses (lots of barriers to making/using these)
How does viral drug resistance development?
viruses replicate very efficiently, accompanied by moderate to high mutation rate, suboptimal potency leads to drug-resistant selection
What is the treatment for HIV?
HAART, first drug = AZT, many drugs are now available for HIV treatment, patients must be monitored during treatment
What are limitations of HIV treatment?
not a cure, patients take for rest of lives, resistance can develop, treatment needs to be reevaluated every 5-10 years, low availability in 3rd world countries
How has HAART helped HIV patients?
it gives people a higher quality life and helps prevent AIDS from developing, leading to decreased death rate
Has HIV ever been cured? How?
Timothy Brown was cured after a bone marrow transplant for his leukemia, we have reproduced this in a couple of other patients
What prevention methods do we have for HIV?
PrEP (when HIV negative) and PEP (when possible exposed to HIV)
What is Hepatitis C treatment?
goal is to halt/reverse HCV-related liver disease, 8-12 week therapy (antivirals once a day)
What are barriers in treating DNA viruses?
drugs are unable to eliminate DNA from cells, long/indefinite administration (Hep. B, HSV, CMV)
How can we treat influenza?
antivirals
How can we treat COVID-19?
immunoglobulin and antivirals
What is phage therapy?
using viruses to treat bacterial infections as they can be toxic to them, cancer therapy via this method is being investigated
