Natural, Semisynthetic, and Synthetic Antiviral Drugs Targeting HIV and SARS-CoV-2

Dear Colleagues,

Viruses cause massive public health concerns, mainly due to their mutagenesis, which might result in spillovers, escape of the humoral response, and drug resistance. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are two distinct viruses that cause different diseases and have various modes of action, transmission, and impact on human health. The first one is a respiratory virus of the genus betacoronavirus that causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19; severe cases of this condition may require hospitalization), while the other is a retrovirus belonging to the genus lentivirus that might cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS, which leads to opportunistic infections and cancers if left untreated). While HIV/AIDS remains a chronic, manageable condition with ongoing prevention and treatment efforts, SARS-CoV-2 has highlighted the acute need for rapid response and vaccination to control a pandemic. Since both HIV and SARS-CoV-2 have had profound impacts on global health, albeit in different ways, advances in medicine and public health continue to evolve in response to these viruses, aiming to reduce transmission, morbidity, and mortality associated with these infectious diseases.

In this sense, to achieve an up-to-date point of view of antiviral development to target HIV or SARS-CoV-2, this Special Issue focuses on the recent scientific and technical progress made in medicinal chemistry. Based on your extensive knowledge and experience, we are pleased to invite you to contribute original research articles to promote and highlight the discovery and importance of antivirals through multidisciplinary tasks involving (but not limited to) virology, biophysics, biochemistry, biology, and chemistry. Review articles are also welcome, especially those describing trends and challenges in antiviral discovery, biophysical characterization of the interaction target antivirals, antiviral mechanisms, and analytical chemistry applied to virology.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Otávio Augusto Chaves
Dr. Carlos Serpa
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.