A lecturer in the Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Prof. Frank Adamu Kuta, has said the only credible option to control viral diseases in developing countries is the development of indigenous vaccines rather than importing vaccines that may not serve the purpose.
He also said the identification of genotypes of pathogenic viruses in circulation will also help in controlling viral diseases.
The Professor of Medical Microbiology proffered these solutions when he delivered the university’s 77th Inaugural Lecture entitled: “Knowing the Molecular Heterogeneity of Human Pathogenic Viruses: My Concern and Your Hope”, at the University Auditorium, Main Campus, Gidan Kwano, Minna.
He noted that viral diseases could best be controlled through prophylactic rather than curative measures.
He stressed the need for synergy between government and non-governmental organisations to fund researches that would target the production of indigenous vaccines to be used for the control of viral diseases.
Kuta said the collaborations would be in funding researches in identifying and circulating genotypes of most pathogenic viruses to serve as data for the development of indigenous vaccines.
He also appealed to the government to direct its attention towards the establishment of regional laboratories, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities that would address problems of diagnosis of viral diseases, particularly during epidemics.
Kuta noted that most of the licensed antiviral drugs in use today were not designed based on rational procedures for effective selective toxicity.
He said this explained why almost all antiviral drugs exhibited severe side effects.
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