Viruses and amino acids in pandemics and epidemics

Abstract

Today's numbers effectively show that we are in World War III. It is not one country against another, but each country against a different virus and, sometimes, the world against a single virus and its mutations. Brazil is now in the midst of a new epidemic, dengue fever caused by an arbovirus. Much research is underway, in several countries, in the search for new therapeutic targets in different viruses, both for antiviral therapy and for vaccine production. Some viruses are dependent on amino acids for the formation of their proteins and the balance of two amino acids, L-lysine and L-arginine, may also be a possible therapy against arboviruses. Until new studies are carried out, the arginine/lysine balance should be observed more closely in patients with viruses. It would be interesting, in these patients, to maintain at least a balance in the diet with the consumption of foods rich in lysine and control the intake of foods rich in arginine such as chocolate, peanuts, cereals, cashews and nuts in general, in first days of the viral infection, the phase of greatest multiplication of the virus. This protocol could perhaps be applied in cases of arbovirus infections.