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Health Sciences, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia. Co-Chair, Working Group on Zoonoses, International Society for ...
156 Recent Patents on Anti-Infective Drug Discovery, 2014, Vol. 9, No. 3

Editorial

Editorial New Challenges for Zoonotic and Vector-Borne Diseases Alfonso J. Rodríguez-Morales* Guest Editor, “Emerging Topics in Zoonotic and Vector-Borne Diseases”, Recent Patents on Anti-Infective Drug Discovery Co-Director, Public Health and Infection Research and Incubator Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia Co-Chair, Working Group on Zoonoses, International Society for Chemotherapy, Aberdeen, United Kingdom Member, Committee on Zoonoses and Haemorrhagic Fevers, Asociación Colombiana de Infectología (ACIN), Bogotá, DC, Colombia Today, more than in the past, focus on zoonosis and vector-borne disease have become highly relevant worldwide, not just in endemic areas, but also in non-endemic given the globalization [1-9]. Zoonotic infections are defined as infections transmitted from animal to man (and less frequently vice versa), either through direct contact (or contact with animal products) or indirectly (through intermediate vectors such as arthropods, so called vector-borne disease) [7, 9, 10]. Some of these infectious diseases would be zoonotic (leptospirosis), vector-borne (dengue), or both (Chagas disease) [11, 12]. About 60% of pathogens that infect humans are zoonotic and have recently emerged as threat for the entire world: Ebola virus is now a top priority on many health and humanitarian agendas with travel restrictions and a global medical emergency situation [3, 9]. Clinically, these disease can affect practically any organ or systems in the body [5, 6, 11, 13-16], and for many of them there are no effective treatments or even vaccines to prevent them [3, 7, 8, 10]. In some countries, the burden of such zoonotic and vector-borne diseases (ZVBD) is high, and even not under control [1, 2, 17, 18]. And beyond that, most of them have been subject of research regard the impact of climate change and climate variability on their incidences and prevalence in many ways, as has been reported for malaria, dengue, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, giardiasis, among many other ZVBD [2, 12, 19-24]. As part of collaboration between the members of the Working Group of Zoonoses of the International Society for Chemotherapy (WGZ-ISC), a special issue on “Zoonotic and Vector-Borne Diseases” has been successfully compiled. This special issue includes an exciting array of invited editorials on coronaviruses, chikungunya, Plasmodium knowlesi malaria and zoonotic filariasis; reviews on anthrax, brucellosis, rabies, cestodiasis, toxocariasis and toxoplasmosis. Other included articles are related to leptospirosis, an epidemiological study of spatial distribution using geographical information systems and a clinical study, four bibliometric studies that show trends and characterize research published on four important ZVBD, malaria, dengue, leishmaniasis and Chagas disease, a clinical study on influence of doxycycline on dengue mortality and one letter on the impact of chikungunya on the hospital epidemiology in one affected municipality of Colombia. At the end of the issue, there is also a selection of recent patents in anti-infective drug and vaccine developments, some of them, particularly interesting, given the fact there are coming new drugs as well new vaccines for some of the ZVBD. The best example of this is the recent publication (January 2015) of the trial (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01374516) on the efficacy of a tetravalent dengue vaccine in children in Latin America, led by a Colombian researcher, Dr. Luis Ángel Villar, professor at the Universidad Indus-

Editorial

Recent Patents on Anti-Infective Drug Discovery, 2014, Vol. 9, No. 3

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trial de Santander and member of the Member, Committee on Zoonoses and Haemorrhagic Fevers, Asociación Colombiana de Infectología (ACIN) (Colombian Association of Infectious Diseases), which founds that three injections of recombinant, live, attenuated, tetravalent dengue vaccine are efficacious against virologically confirmed dengue (VCD) and severe form of disease and led to fewer hospitalizations for VCD in five Latin American countries where dengue is endemic [25]. Then new solutions to emerging challenges become, but still new ways of transmission of some diseases (e.g. orally transmitted acute Chagas disease) are appearing; others have become endemic in new areas (e.g. Chikungunya and Mayaro in Latin America and Zika in Eastern Island, Chile), in some of them such as in P. vivax malaria, severe and complicated forms are recognized. But much concern in 2014 was related to the expansion of Ebola virus disease, which produced cases outside Africa [2, 3]. More challenges are ongoing, but increased research will allow us to provide solutions. CONFLICT OF INTEREST The authors confirm that this article content has no conflict of interest. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This special issue does not intend to be an exhaustive compilation and has included not just multiple different topics but also a wide geographical participation from many countries where ZVBD are of interest. I would like to thank to Bentham Science, particularly Mrs. Sonia Yousuf, Assistant Manager Publications, Recent Patents on Anti-Infective Drug Discovery, for the opportunity to edit this interesting and important special issue. I want to dedicate this special issue to my family, particularly to my lovely wife, Diana, who stimulates me to keep pursuing a high standard of research activity and teaching in Colombia and Latin America. In Colombia, also to Colciencias, the national administrative department of scientific research and technology, who recently recognized and categorized our research group, led by my friend and colleague Dr. Guillermo Lagos-Grisales, and who also recognized me as Senior Reseacher (Investigador Senior, top individuals classification in the country) at the National System of Science, Technology and Innovation. Thanks again to all the contributors and peer-reviewers who supported with their time and efforts in order to reach the goal of publication. I hope our readers will enjoy this publication as much as I did reading the articles included in this special issue of “Emerging Topics in Zoonotic and Vector-Borne Diseases”. REFERENCES [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Benitez JA, Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Vivas P, Plaz J. Burden of zoonotic diseases in Venezuela during 2004 and 2005. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2008; 1149: 315-7. Cardenas R, Sandoval CM, Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Vivas P. Zoonoses and climate variability. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2008; 1149: 326-30. Cardona-Ospina JA, Giselle-Badillo A, Calvache-Benavides CE, Rodriguez-Morales AJ. Ebola virus disease: An emerging zoonosis with importance for travel medicine. Travel Med Infect Dis 2014; 12: 682-3. Cascio A, Bosilkovski M, Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Pappas G. The socio-ecology of zoonotic infections. Clinical microbiology and infection. Official Pub Euro Soc Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 2011; 17: 336-42. Cascio A, Pernice LM, Barberi G, Delfino D, Biondo C, Beninati C, et al. Secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in zoonoses. A systematic review. Euro Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 2012; 16: 1324-37. Galletti B, Mannella VK, Santoro R, Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Freni F, Galletti C, et al. Ear, nose and throat (ENT) involvement in zoonotic diseases: A systematic review. J Infect Develop Countries 2014; 8: 17-23. Pappas G, Cascio A, Rodriguez-Morales AJ. The immunology of zoonotic infections. Clin Develop Immunol 2012; 2012: 208508. Rifakis PM, Benitez JA, De-la-Paz-Pineda J, Rodriguez-Morales AJ. Epizootics of yellow fever in Venezuela (20042005): An emerging zoonotic disease. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2006; 1081: 57-60.

158 Recent Patents on Anti-Infective Drug Discovery, 2014, Vol. 9, No. 3

[9] [10] [11] [12]

[13]

[14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]

[22] [23] [24]

Editorial

Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Schlagenhauf P. Zoonoses and travel medicine: "One world--one health". Travel Med Infect Dis 2014; 12: 555-6. Pappas G. Of mice and men: Defining, categorizing and understanding the significance of zoonotic infections. Clinical microbiology and infection. Official Pub Euro Soc Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 2011; 17: 321-5. Gomez PC, Mantilla HJ, Rodriguez-Morales AJ. Fatal chagas disease among solid-organ transplant recipients in Colombia. Open Forum Infect Dis 2014; 1: ofu032. Mattar S, Morales V, Cassab A, Rodriguez-Morales AJ. Effect of climate variables on dengue incidence in a tropical Caribbean municipality of Colombia, Cerete, 2003-2008. Int J Infect Dis: IJID: Official Pub Euro Soc Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 2013; 17: e358-9. Franco-Paredes C, Rouphael N, Mendez J, Folch E, Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Santos JI, et al. Cardiac manifestations of parasitic infections part 3: Pericardial and miscellaneous cardiopulmonary manifestations. Clin Cardiol 2007; 30: 27780. Franco-Paredes C, Rouphael N, Mendez J, Folch E, Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Santos JI, et al. Cardiac manifestations of parasitic infections. Part 2: Parasitic myocardial disease. Clin Cardiol 2007; 30: 218-22. Franco-Paredes C, Rouphael N, Mendez J, Folch E, Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Santos JI, et al. Cardiac manifestations of parasitic infections part 1: Overview and immunopathogenesis. Clin Cardiol 2007; 30: 195-9. Hidron A, Vogenthaler N, Santos-Preciado JI, Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Franco-Paredes C, Rassi AJr. Cardiac involvement with parasitic infections. Clin Microbiol Rev 2010; 23: 324-49. Rodriguez-Morales AJ. Malaria: An eradicable threat? J Infect Develop Countries 2008; 2: 1-2. Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Paniz-Mondolfi AE. Venezuela's failure in malaria control. Lancet 2014; 384: 663-4. Cardenas R, Sandoval CM, Rodriguez-Morales AJ, Franco-Paredes C. Impact of climate variability in the occurrence of leishmaniasis in Northeastern Colombia. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2006; 75: 273-7. Herrera-Martinez AD, Rodriguez-Morales AJ. Potential influence of climate variability on dengue incidence registered in a western pediatric Hospital of Venezuela. Trop Biomed 2010; 27: 280-6. Quintero-Herrera LL, Ramirez-Jaramillo V, Bernal-Gutierrez S, Cardenas-Giraldo EV, Guerrero-Matituy EA, MolinaDelgado AH, et al. Potential impact of climatic variability on the epidemiology of dengue in Risaralda, Colombia, 20102011. J Infect Public Health 2015; 14: 186-5. Rodriguez-Morales AJ. Climate change, rainfall, society and disasters in Latin America: Relations and needs. Rev Peru Med Exp Salud Publica 2011; 28: 165-6. Rodriguez-Morales AJ. Climate change, climate variability and brucellosis. Rec Pat Anti-infect Drug Discov 2013; 8: 412. Zambrano LI, Sevilla C, Reyes-Garcia SZ, Sierra M, Kafati R, Rodriguez-Morales AJ, et al. Potential impacts of climate variability on dengue hemorrhagic fever in Honduras, 2010. Trop Biomed 2012; 29: 499-507.

Alfonso J. Rodríguez-Morales (Guest Editor) E-mail: [email protected]