Dear Colleagues,

Emerging viruses are a very broad category that includes not only newly discovered viruses but also re-emerging variants of known viruses. These viruses continue to cause mass disruption by creating constant threat to public health. In the last 20 years, we have observed a variety of viral outbreaks, such as severe acute respiratory symptom (SARS), H1N1 influenza, Ebola virus, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), Rift Valley fever, Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever, Nipah and Hendra viruses, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV), yellow fever virus (YFV), Zika virus, and the ongoing SARS-CoV-2. The globalization of the economies and quick-paced traveling patterns of human populations, combined with climate change, are creating ample opportunities for mass spread of viral infections. The multiple surges of SARS-CoV-2 variants have quickly exposed the challenges and limitations of vaccines and various antiviral treatments. For example, SARS-CoV-2 virus transmission has proven difficult to manage with current vaccines and therapeutic approaches. There is a strong need to position immune modulating modalities and other novel antivirals to suppress viral transmission and infection by inhibiting cellular pathways essential for viral infection.  The development of broad-spectrum antiviral drugs can provide an additional level of defense while specific antivirals are being developed. This approach has shown some indication of success against SARS-CoV-2 and may be appropriate to be implemented for future emerging viruses. This Special Issue, “Emerging Viruses and Antiviral Drugs”, focuses on various antiviral approaches to manage emerging and re-emerging viruses and will include antiviral drug discovery, discovery of the mechanism of actions, new targets, and upcoming and established technologies used for discovery and development of antiviral drugs.

Dr. Veronica Soloveva
Dr. Miguel A. Martín-Acebes
Dr. Sina Bavari
Guest Editors

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• emerging viruses
• antiviral therapies
• antiviral drugs
• drug discovery and development
• mechanism of action