The search for a natural antiviral in the fight against foot and mouth disease

Researchers at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University have developed a groundbreaking antiviral treatment for foot and mouth disease from an evergreen shrub native across the Middle East and India

The economic costs associated with an outbreak of foot and mouth disease are devastating. The 2001 outbreak in the UK was estimated to have cost the economy £8 billion. More than 6 million animals were slaughtered as the army was mustered to control the outbreak.

Preventive measures include quarantines, strict monitoring of livestock, trade restrictions and, not least vaccination. But the foot and mouth virus has seven serotypes, complicating vaccination programmes. Currently, there is no effective antiviral treatment, but Maged Abdel-Kader, professor in the College of Pharmacy at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, is co-author of a patent that could have huge implications for the agriculture sector. The patent relates to an antiviral treatment found in the Rhazya stricta – a poisonous plant widely distributed across the Middle East, India and Pakistan.

The idea that the plant could be used as an antiviral came from one of Abdel-Kader’s students, whose family raises sheep and camels. “He told me: ‘When our animals have this disease, we get this Rhazya stricta and we soak it in water for 24 hours, and then we prevent animals from drinking water so they become thirsty and then give them this water,’” Abdel-Kader says. “I expect it to be very bitter for the animal to drink normally, but when they are thirsty, they will start to drink anything. He said that infected animals would start to heal and come back to their normal situation.”

That gave Abdel-Kadera starting point. First, he had to identify the plant, which is known by a variety of common names in the region and has a different Arabic name. Once the plant had been identified, researchers needed a laboratory with the capacity to run tests on viruses.

“It is not easy to find a lab dealing with viruses,” Abdel-Kader says. Eventually, an Egyptian military veterinary hospital agreed to run the tests. “We tested whole extracts, then we fractionated this extract in a traditional fashion. We tested all these fractions, and we found that the least polar fraction was most active as an antivirus. After that, we started the process of purification and chromatographic separation until we identified seven pure compounds, and tested them to discover the most active one, and we applied for this patent.”

This is the first time a compound has been discovered that is active against this virus. Previously, treatment of infected animals has been symptomatic. The potential for the Rhazya stricta extract antiviral activity is huge. The next step is to partner with a pharmaceutical company that can develop the extract into a drug that can be marketed internationally.

“It needs some kind of formulation to become a pharmaceutical product, so hopefully we can do this in the near future,” Abdel-Kader says. “It is a common plant. It can be used easily. We can go [even] further and try to synthesise this compound instead of extracting from the plant itself.”

Find out more about Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University.