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Currently, no specific treatment for chikungunya is available. Supportive care is recommended, and symptomatic treatment of fever and joint swelling includes the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as naproxen, non-aspirin analgesics such as paracetamol (acetaminophen) and fluids. Aspirin is not recommended due to the increased risk of bleeding. Despite anti-inflammatory effects, corticosteroids are not recommended during the acute phase of disease, as they may cause immunosuppression and worsen infection.
Passive immunotherapy has potential benefit in treatment of chikungunya. Studies in animals using passive immunotherapy have been effective, and clinical studies using passive immunotherapy in those particularly vulnerable to severe infection are currently in progress. Passive immunotherapy involves administration of anti-CHIKV hyperimmune human intravenous antibodies (immunoglobulins) to those exposed to a high risk of chikungunya infection. No antiviral treatment for chikungunya virus is currently available, though testing has shown several medications to be effective "in vitro".
There is currently no specific treatment for Zika virus infection. Care is supportive with treatment of pain, fever, and itching. Some authorities have recommended against using aspirin and other NSAIDs as these have been associated with hemorrhagic syndrome when used for other flaviviruses. Additionally, aspirin use is generally avoided in children when possible due to the risk of Reye syndrome.
Zika virus had been relatively little studied until the major outbreak in 2015, and no specific antiviral treatments are available as yet. Advice to pregnant women is to avoid any risk of infection so far as possible, as once infected there is little that can be done beyond supportive treatment.
In those who have more than two weeks of arthritis, ribavirin may be useful. The effect of chloroquine is not clear. It does not appear to help acute disease, but tentative evidence indicates it might help those with chronic arthritis. Steroids do not appear to be an effective treatment. NSAIDs and simple analgesics can be used to provide partial symptom relief in most cases. Methotrexate, a drug used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, has been shown to have benefit in treating inflammatory polyarthritis resulting from chikungunya, though the drug mechanism for improving viral arthritis is unclear.
Most people recover from West Nile virus without treatment. No specific treatment is available for WNV infection. In mild cases over the counter pain relievers can help ease mild headaches and muscle aches in adults. In severe cases treatment consists of supportive care that often involves hospitalization, intravenous fluids, pain medication, respiratory support, and prevention of secondary infections.
There are no treatment modalities for acute and chronic chikungunya that currently exist. Majority of treatment plans use supportive and symptomatic care like analgesics for pain and anti-inflammatories for inflammation caused by arthritis. In acute stages of this virus, rest, antipyretics and analgesics are used to subside symptoms. Most use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). In some cases, joint pain may resolve from treatment but stiffness remains.
Prophylaxis by vaccination, as well as preventive measures like protective clothing, tick control, and mosquito control are advised. The vaccine for KFDV consists of formalin-inactivated KFDV. The vaccine has a 62.4% effectiveness rate for individuals who receive two doses. For individuals who receive an additional dose, the effectiveness increases to 82.9%. Specific treatments are not available.
Dengue infection's therapeutic management is simple, cost effective and successful in saving lives by adequately performing timely institutionalized interventions. Treatment options are restricted, while no effective antiviral drugs for this infection have been accessible to date. Patients in the early phase of the dengue virus may recover without hospitalization. However, ongoing clinical research is in the works to find specific anti-dengue drugs.
Treatment is symptomatic and supportive. Children with hydrocephalus often need a ventriculoperitoneal shunt. Nucleoside analog ribavirin is used in some cases due to the inhibitory effect the agent has "in vitro" on arenaviruses. However, there is not sufficient evidence for efficacy in humans to support routine use. The only survivor of a transplant-associated LCMV infection was treated with ribavirin and simultaneous tapering of the immunosuppressive medications. Early and intravenous ribavirin treatment is required for maximal efficacy, and it can produce considerable side effects. Ribavirin has not been evaluated yet in controlled clinical trials.
Use of ribavirin during pregnancy is generally not recommended, as some studies indicate the possibility of teratogenic effects. If aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, or meningoencephalitis develops in consequence to LCMV, hospitalization and supportive treatment may be required. In some circumstances, anti-inflammatory drugs may also be considered. In general, mortality is less than one percent.
Treatment is primarily supportive in nature. Early supportive care with rehydration and symptomatic treatment improves survival. Rehydration may be via the oral or by intravenous route. These measures may include management of pain, nausea, fever and anxiety. The World Health Organization recommends avoiding the use of aspirin or ibuprofen for pain due to the bleeding risk associated with use of these medications.
Blood products such as packed red blood cells, platelets or fresh frozen plasma may also be used. Other regulators of coagulation have also been tried including heparin in an effort to prevent disseminated intravascular coagulation and clotting factors to decrease bleeding. Antimalarial medications and antibiotics are often used before the diagnosis is confirmed, though there is no evidence to suggest such treatment helps. A number of experimental treatments are being studied.
If hospital care is not possible, the World Health Organization has guidelines for care at home that have been relatively successful. In such situations, recommendations include using towels soaked in bleach solutions when moving infected people or bodies and applying bleach on stains. It is also recommended that the caregivers wash hands with bleach solutions and cover their mouth and nose with a cloth.
There is no specific treatment for the condition.
Control may rely on boosting bird immunity, preventing group mixing and faecal spreading.
There are no specific antiviral drugs for dengue; however, maintaining proper fluid balance is important. Treatment depends on the symptoms. Those who are able to drink, are passing urine, have no "warning signs" and are otherwise healthy can be managed at home with daily follow-up and oral rehydration therapy. Those who have other health problems, have "warning signs", or cannot manage regular follow-up should be cared for in hospital. In those with severe dengue care should be provided in an area where there is access to an intensive care unit.
Intravenous hydration, if required, is typically only needed for one or two days. In children with shock due to dengue a rapid dose of 20 mL/kg is reasonable. The rate of fluid administration is then titrated to a urinary output of 0.5–1 mL/kg/h, stable vital signs and normalization of hematocrit. The smallest amount of fluid required to achieve this is recommended.
Invasive medical procedures such as nasogastric intubation, intramuscular injections and arterial punctures are avoided, in view of the bleeding risk. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is used for fever and discomfort while NSAIDs such as ibuprofen and aspirin are avoided as they might aggravate the risk of bleeding. Blood transfusion is initiated early in people presenting with unstable vital signs in the face of a "decreasing hematocrit", rather than waiting for the hemoglobin concentration to decrease to some predetermined "transfusion trigger" level. Packed red blood cells or whole blood are recommended, while platelets and fresh frozen plasma are usually not. There is not enough evidence to determine if corticosteroids have a positive or negative effect in dengue fever.
During the recovery phase intravenous fluids are discontinued to prevent a state of fluid overload. If fluid overload occurs and vital signs are stable, stopping further fluid may be all that is needed. If a person is outside of the critical phase, a loop diuretic such as furosemide may be used to eliminate excess fluid from the circulation.
Most of the time, Zika fever resolves on its own in 2 to 7 days, but rarely, some people develop Guillain–Barré syndrome. The fetus of a pregnant woman who has Zika fever may die or be born with congenital central nervous system malformations, like microcephaly.
No specific treatment is currently approved. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advises people to be careful of advertisements making unverified or fraudulent claims of benefits supposedly gained from various anti-Ebola products.
West Nile virus can be sampled from the environment by the pooling of trapped mosquitoes via ovitraps, carbon dioxide-baited light traps, and gravid traps, testing blood samples drawn from wild birds, dogs, and sentinel monkeys, as well as testing brains of dead birds found by various animal control agencies and the public.
Testing of the mosquito samples requires the use of reverse-transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) to directly amplify and show the presence of virus in the submitted samples. When using the blood sera of wild birds and sentinel chickens, samples must be tested for the presence of WNV antibodies by use of immunohistochemistry (IHC) or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
Dead birds, after necropsy, or their oral swab samples collected on specific RNA-preserving filter paper card, can have their virus presence tested by either RT-PCR or IHC, where virus shows up as brown-stained tissue because of a substrate-enzyme reaction.
West Nile control is achieved through mosquito control, by elimination of mosquito breeding sites such as abandoned pools, applying larvacide to active breeding areas, and targeting the adult population via lethal ovitraps and aerial spraying of pesticides.
Environmentalists have condemned attempts to control the transmitting mosquitoes by spraying pesticide, saying the detrimental health effects of spraying outweigh the relatively few lives that may be saved, and more environmentally friendly ways of controlling mosquitoes are available. They also question the effectiveness of insecticide spraying, as they believe mosquitoes that are resting or flying above the level of spraying will not be killed; the most common vector in the northeastern United States, "Culex pipiens", is a canopy feeder.
No treatment exists for the viral infection. Antibiotics may help prevent secondary infections.
Vaccination is available in different forms, usually for naive flocks.
Good biosecurity measures should be maintained including adequate quarantine, isolation, separation of different age groups and disinfection.
Currently, there is no proven, safe treatment for monkeypox. The people who have been infected can be vaccinated up to 14 days after exposure.
No specific treatment for CTF is yet available. The first action is make sure the tick is fully removed from the skin, then acetaminophen and analgesics can be used to help relieve the fever and pain. Aspirin is not recommended for children, as it has been linked to Reye’s syndrome in some viral illnesses. Salicylates should not be used because of thrombocytopenia, and the rare occurrence of bleeding disorders. People who suspect they have been bitten by a tick or are starting to show signs of CTF should contact their physicians immediately.
Immunosuppressive therapy has been effective in halting the disease for laboratory animals.
Although no specific treatment for acute infection with SuHV1 is available, vaccination can alleviate clinical signs in pigs of certain ages. Typically, mass vaccination of all pigs on the farm with a modified live virus vaccine is recommended. Intranasal vaccination of sows and neonatal piglets one to seven days old, followed by intramuscular (IM) vaccination of all other swine on the premises, helps reduce viral shedding and improve survival. The modified live virus replicates at the site of injection and in regional lymph nodes. Vaccine virus is shed in such low levels, mucous transmission to other animals is minimal. In gene-deleted vaccines, the thymidine kinase gene has also been deleted; thus, the virus cannot infect and replicate in neurons. Breeding herds are recommended to be vaccinated quarterly, and finisher pigs should be vaccinated after levels of maternal antibody decrease. Regular vaccination results in excellent control of the disease. Concurrent antibiotic therapy via feed and IM injection is recommended for controlling secondary bacterial pathogens.
Ticks should be removed promptly and carefully with tweezers and by applying gentle, steady traction. The tick's body should not be crushed when it is removed and the tweezers should be placed as close to the skin as possible to avoid leaving tick mouthparts in the skin; mouthparts left in the skin can allow secondary infections. Ticks should not be removed with bare hands. Hands should be protected by gloves and/or tissues and thoroughly washed with soap and water after the removal process.
A match or flame should not be used to remove a tick. This method, once thought safe, can cause the tick to regurgitate, expelling any disease it may be carrying into the bite wound.
Prevention of sandfly bites, and control of sandflies and their breeding grounds with insecticides are the principal methods for prevention. Mosquito nets may not be sufficient to prevent sandfly bites.
There is no specific treatment for the disease. Pain killers and fluid replacement may be useful.
Some vertically transmitted infections, such as toxoplasmosis and syphilis, can be effectively treated with antibiotics if the mother is diagnosed early in her pregnancy. Many viral vertically transmitted infections have no effective treatment, but some, notably rubella and varicella-zoster, can be prevented by vaccinating the mother prior to pregnancy.
If the mother has active herpes simplex (as may be suggested by a pap test), delivery by Caesarean section can prevent the newborn from contact, and consequent infection, with this virus.
IgG antibody may play crucial role in prevention of intrauterine infections and extensive research is going on for developing IgG-based therapies for treatment and vaccination.
A number of topical antivirals are effective for herpes labialis, including acyclovir, penciclovir, and docosanol.
Several antiviral drugs are effective for treating herpes, including acyclovir, valaciclovir (valacyclovir), famciclovir, and penciclovir. Acyclovir was the first discovered and is now available in generic. Valacyclovir is also available as a generic and is slightly more effective than aciclovir for reducing lesion healing time.
Evidence supports the use of acyclovir and valacyclovir in the treatment of herpes labialis as well as herpes infections in people with cancer. The evidence to support the use of acyclovir in primary herpetic gingivostomatitis is weaker.