Promising role of phenolic acids as antimalarial and antiviral drugs

Abstract

Herein, the latest advances concerning phenolic acids as anti-malarial and antiviral drug development are discussed.Malaria is one of the most important parasitic disease worldwide, affecting more than 200 million people of all ages around the world and causing about one million deaths per annum. In addition, it has been estimated that close to two billion individuals are at risk of developing malaria. (WHO malaria report 2021) Despite the fact that there is a considerable amount of work in the search of more promising anti-malarial agents, increasing of drug resistant strains of Plasmodium spp. constitutes the main obstacle for the persistence of this disease. Besides, viral infections represent an important hazard to the human health for which effective vaccines have not yet been developed. Different viruses that can affect human race appear continuously, leading to risk of a pandemics and/or endemics. Meanwhile no vaccines are developed, the use of antiviral drugs is the viable alternative to control and/or limit this class of infections. For some diseases there are currently no specific treatments for their cure, or else, those that are applied become ineffective due to the appearance of viral populations resistant to the drug in question.