Use of dengue virus in terrorist attacks, biowarfare feared

News Release

First District Cotabato Rep. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza

Member, Commission on Appointments

615 South Wing, House of Representatives, Constitution Hills, Quezon City Tel: 951-3011

May 24, 2008



As US biotech firm advances dengue antiviral program

Dengue, the pestilent mosquito-borne virus that infected a record 45,350 Filipinos in 2007 and thousands more this year, could possibly be used in future terrorist attacks, according to an American biotechnology company that is now trying to find a cure for the disease.

Alarmed, Cotabato Rep. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza has stressed the need for Congress to extend adequate funding to programs that would "hopefully lead to the discovery of new ways to prevent and treat dengue through pharmaceutical agents."

"It has become absolutely imperative for the Philippines to do its share, and help push the development of a suitable vaccine against dengue, considering we are among the countries most exposed to and threatened by the virus," Taliño-Mendoza said.

"We should promptly set aside funds to actively support both local and foreign dengue antiviral programs," Taliño-Mendoza said.

She lamented that dengue "has been causing great suffering to a growing number of Filipino families in Mindanao and other parts of the country."

At present, there is no approved antiviral or vaccine for the treatment or prevention of dengue fever.

Citing statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), Taliño-Mendoza said the Philippines has the fourth highest number of dengue cases every year, after Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

However, she said the Philippines ranks second only to Indonesia in terms of deaths due to dengue.

A record total of 45,350 dengue cases were reported nationwide in 2007, with 416 deaths, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

Worse, DOH records show that from Jan. 1 to Apr. 19 this year, 111 deaths were reported, with the total number of dengue cases hitting 9,555, up nearly 30 percent compared to the 7,384 listed in the same period in 2007.

Taliño-Mendoza's plea for funding came immediately after an American biotechnology firm announced that it is stepping up the search for a potential drug to fight dengue.

In a May 21 regulatory filing, New York-based SIGA Technologies Inc. said it is advancing its "dengue fever antiviral program."

The chief executive officer of SIGA, Dr. Eric Rose, said: "Our work in dengue could ultimately benefit people living in regions where dengue is endemic, travelers to those regions and (US) military personnel deployed in those areas, as well as people who may be exposed to the virus through a terrorist attack. The recent outbreak of dengue fever in South America underscores the need for an effective antiviral to treat this debilitating disease, which puts tens of millions of people at risk each year.''

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"Now that several series of active compounds have been identified, we are moving forward with target identification and mechanism of action studies, which we expect to complete in the near future. Once we have completed these studies, we can take the next step and move these compounds into animal models of the disease,'' added Dr. Dennis Hruby, chief scientific officer of SIGA.

SIGA, whose shares are traded on the NASDAQ electronic stock market in New York, said it has "completed a screen of a proprietary small-molecule chemical library in support of a dengue fever antiviral program. The screen of approximately 200,000 compounds led to the identification of a number of pharmacologically active compounds."

The company added: "Several series of compounds were shown to have high potency and low toxicity in tissue cultures derived from multiple cell lines. Importantly, these compounds appear to be active against all four serotypes of the dengue virus."

SIGA is trying to develop pharmaceutical agents to fight not just dengue, but also other potential biowarfare viruses such as smallpox, Ebola and Lassa.

The daytime Aedes egypti mosquito, found in tropical and sub-tropical regions, transmits the dengue virus to humans. The mosquito prefers to feed on human and usually bites after dawn and before sunset.

Dengue epidemics cause significant morbidity and mortality, social disruption and considerable economic burden in affected areas, both in terms of hospitalization and mosquito control, according to the WHO.

Dengue causes high fever and could lead to internal bleeding. The WHO estimates that the case-fatality rate of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) in most countries is about five percent, mostly among children and young adults.

Up to 40 percent of the world's population (or about 2.5 billion people) are threatened by dengue fever, DHF and dengue shock syndrome, the WHO said.

Dengue and DHF are caused by one of four related but different virus serotypes of the genus Flavivirus. Infection with one of these serotypes does not provide immunity, so people living in dengue-prone areas can have four infections in their lifetimes.

Dengue has also become an emerging threat to North America, with major epidemics in Brazil, Cuba and Venezuela, and outbreaks in Texas and Hawaii.