“Global threads by RNA viruses require global responses, beyond political borders”

In the past fifteen years or so, outbreaks of RNA viruses causing human disease have been increasing dramatically. Because of their high mutation rate, RNA viruses can easily adapt to new hosts and respond to drug treatment by resistance mutations. Completely new viruses such as Nipah virus, SARS coronavirus, and swine-derived influenza virus have emerged in recent years, whereas other outbreaks were caused by new variants of known viruses such as Chikungunya virus and H5N1 influenza virus. Possibly due to climate change and certainly favored by the increase in international air traffic and migration into the big cities in developing countries, vectors carrying viruses such as the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitos have expanded their geographical distribution tremendously. The viral threads connected with these outbreaks are global; viruses do not respect political borders. Accordingly, virologists, vaccination specialists, antiviral drug designers, public health officers, and policy makers have to collaborate on a global scale. Since the end of the cold war, this is not much of a problem anymore between the countries of Eastern and Western Europe; rather, difficulties occur today in countries where health authorities and governments attempt to keep viral outbreaks secret, in order to prevent the economical damage that might be a consequence for their countries. Fortunately, it can be stated today that the global SARS outbreak of 2003 has told a lesson here and global collaboration between the scientists and the health authorities involved in general works smoothly. However, our ability to fight emerging RNA viruses is still very much hampered by the lack of antiviral drugs. The pharmaceutical industry is reluctant to invest in this field, because of the self-limiting nature of RNA virus infections and because of market uncertainties; beyond drugs for the treatment of the chronic diseases caused by HIV and the hepatitis B and C viruses, not many antiviral threapeutics are available. This situation has to change urgently, and it can only do so by global collaboration between virologists and drug designers in academia. These new ways in drug discovery require new ways of funding, which will be discussed.