AUTHOR=Orabi Ahmed , Hussein Ashraf , Saleh Ayman A. , Megahed Ayman M. , Metwally Mohamed , Moeini Hassan , Metwally Aya Sh. 

TITLE=Therapeutic efficacy of n-Docosanol against velogenic Newcastle disease virus infection in domestic chickens

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1049037

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.1049037

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=The control of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) infection depends solely on vaccination which in most cases is not sufficient to restrain the consequences of such a highly evolving viral disease. Finding out substances for preparing an efficient anti-ND drug would be of high value. n-Docosanol is a saturated fatty alcohol with an inhibitory effect against many enveloped viruses. In this study, we evaluated the therapeutic effect of n-docosanol on NDV infection and shedding in chickens. To this end, chickens infected with a highly virulent NDV were treated with low to high concentrations of n-docosanol (20, 40, and 60 mg/kg body weight) for 4-successive days, once they showed the disease symptoms. Symptoms development was found to discontinue 24-72 hours post-treatment. The survival rate in the NDV-infected chickens raised 37.4–53.2% after the treatment. n-Docosanol treatment was also found to significantly reduce virus load in the digestive (26.2-33.9%), respiratory (38.3-63%), nervous (26.7-51.1%), and lymphatic (16.4-29.1%) tissues. Histopathological scoring of NDV lesions revealed prominent rescue effects on the histology of different tissues. Importantly, n-docosanol treatment significantly reduced virus shedding in oropharyngeal discharge and feces thereby allowing the restriction of NDV spread. Altogether, our findings suggest n-docosanol as a promising remedy in the control strategy of Newcastle disease in the poultry industry.