July 2021

{:en} Dengue virus (DENV) is a genus of flavivirus in the family Flaviviridae. This virus is a human pathogen causing a broad spectrum of clinical disease ranging from dengue fever (DF) to severe dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS). In Indonesia, DHF first occurred as an epidemic in Jakarta and Surabaya in 1968. Until now, there is no effective antiviral or vaccine for DHF. Apart from Indonesia, other ASEAN countries that have quite large DENV outbreaks are Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Currently, there are four genotypes of dengue virus; DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4. The rate of transmission and spread varies widely among the four dengue serotypes. In addition, Mustafa et al. led the discovery of a new dengue virus serotype, DENV-5. The World Health Organization states that the dengue virus is spread in metropolitan cities mainly by two species of mosquitoes, Aedes agypti and Aedes albopictus. This condition occurs mainly in the tropics and subtropics. Indonesia is declared to have the second largest biodiversity in the world, with around 40,000 endemic plant species including 6,000 medicinal plants. For this reason, natural ingredients are the main source of test materials in the development of antiviral drugs based on traditional medicines. P. merkusii or Sumatran pine is a pine native to the Southeast Asian region of Malaysia, especially in Indonesia. P. merkusii belongs to the family Pinaceae and genus Pinus. It is one of the tropical softwood tree species in Indonesia. On the island of Java, P. merkusii is a producer of pine resin. However, Indonesia is a major producer of turpentine distilled from this resin. Traditional medicinal plants have been reported to have antiviral activity and some have been used to treat viral infections in animals and humans. Apart from Pinaceae, several members of the family Acanthaceae, Amaranthaceae, Caricaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Elaeagnaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Fagaceae, Flagellariaceae, Halymeniaceae, Labiatae, Meliaceae, Myrtaceae, Piperaceae, Phyllophoraceae, Poaceae, Rhizophoraceae, Verbeniaceae, and Zo, Songilieriaceae have been reported. as anti-dengue. Many studies have reported that the medicinal properties of P. merkusii are caused by its phytochemicals, including saponins, flavonoids, lignans, polyphenols, triterpenes, sterols, triterpenoids, glycosides, and alkaloids. P. merkusii is an important source of pycnogenol containing proanthocyanidins (procyanidins). Proanthocyanidins are powerful free radical scavengers, antibacterial, vasodilating, anticancer, hypoallergenic, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, immune system stimulating, antidiabetic, and anti-atherosclerosis. In addition, proanthocyanidins are natural compounds found in many Pine plants. Proanthocyanidins are present in flowers, bark, fruits, and seeds of various plants as a defense against biotic and abiotic stress. Chemically it is an oligomeric and polymeric product of the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway. Flavonoids are a class of polyphenolic compounds that have significant human health benefits and are described as less toxic than other plant compounds. In addition, several studies have shown that flavonoids exert significant antiviral activity against a number of common viruses including Aichi virus, dengue virus, canine distemper virus, and several others. There have also been reports of inhibition of the viral replication cycle by flavones, a subgroup of flavonoids that includes compounds such as baicalein. P. merkusii is a good source of traditional medicine and provides an important basis in pharmaceutical biology for the development or formulation of new drugs and for future clinical use to combat DENV infection. In addition, the formation of new anti-dengue products from bioactive compounds is needed to find anti-dengue drugs that are more effective and less toxic. Therefore, any comprehensive study of the potency of medicinal plants with isolated active compounds that have demonstrated anti-dengue activity should undergo additional in vitro and in vivo animal testing followed by toxicity and clinical trials. This may lead to the discovery of compounds that are promising to be optimized and thus considered suitable for application in the production of new anti-dengue compounds. In this study, we revealed that the stem and flower bark of P. merkusii inhibited DENV-2 in Vero cells with IC50 = 140.63 g/mL and 73.78 g/mL, CC50 = 89.65 g/mL and 249.5 g. g/mL, SI= 0.64 and 3.38, respectively. Author: Teguh Hari Sucipto Source : news.unair.ac.id Picture’s Source : Indozone {:}{:id}Virus dengue (DENV) adalah genus Flavivirus dari famili Flaviviridae. Virus ini adalah patogen terhadap manusia yang menyebabkan spektrum penyakit klinis yang luas mulai dari demam berdarah (DF) hingga demam berdarah dengue (DBD) parah dan sindrom syok dengue (DSS). Di Indonesia, DBD pertama kali terjadi sebagai wabah di Jakarta dan Surabaya pada tahun 1968. Hingga saat ini, belum ada antivirus atau vaksin yang efektif untuk DBD. Selain Indonesia, negara ASEAN lainnya yang memiliki wabah DENV cukup besar adalah Malaysia, Filipina, Thailand, dan Vietnam. Saat ini, ada empat genotipe virus dengue; DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, dan DENV-4. Tingkat penularan dan penyebaran sangat bervariasi di antara keempat serotipe dengue. Selain itu, Mustafa dkk. memimpin penemuan serotipe baru virus dengue, DENV-5. World Health Organization menyatakan bahwa virus dengue menyebar di kota-kota metropolitan terutama oleh dua spesies nyamuk, Aedes agypti dan Aedes albopictus. Kondisi ini terjadi terutama di daerah tropis dan subtropis. Indonesia dinyatakan memiliki keanekaragaman hayati terbesar kedua di dunia, dengan sekitar 40.000 spesies tumbuhan endemik termasuk 6.000 tumbuhan obat. Untuk itu, bahan alam menjadi sumber bahan uji utama dalam pengembangan obat antivirus berbasis obat tradisional. P. merkusii atau pinus Sumatera adalah pinus asli daerah Malasia Asia Tenggara, terutama di Indonesia. P. merkusii termasuk dalam famili Pinaceae dan genus Pinus. Ini adalah salah satu spesies pohon kayu lunak tropis di Indonesia. Di Pulau Jawa, P. merkusii merupakan penghasil getah pinus. Namun, Indonesia merupakan produsen utama terpentin yang disuling dari resin ini. Tanaman obat tradisional telah dilaporkan memiliki aktivitas antivirus dan beberapa telah digunakan untuk mengobati infeksi virus pada hewan dan manusia. Selain Pinaceae, beberapa anggota famili Acanthaceae, Amaranthaceae, Caricaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Elaeagnaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Fagaceae, Flagellariaceae, Halymeniaceae, Labiatae, Meliaceae, Myrtaceae, Piperaceae, Phyllophoraceae, Poaceae, Rhizophoraceae, Verbeniaceae, Solieriuraceae, Zingiberaceae, dan Zosteraceae telah dilaporkan sebagai anti-dengue. Banyak penelitian melaporkan bahwa khasiat obat P. merkusii disebabkan oleh fitokimia yang dimiliki, antara lain saponin, flavonoid, lignan, polifenol, triterpen, sterol, triterpenoid, glikosida, dan alkaloid. P. merkusii merupakan sumber penting pycnogenol yang mengandung proanthocyanidins (procyanidins). Proanthocyanidins adalah penangkal radikal bebas yang kuat, antibakteri, vasodilatasi, antikanker, antialergi, anti-inflamasi, kardioprotektif, merangsang sistem kekebalan, antidiabetes, dan anti-aterosklerosis. Selain

{:en} The World Health Organization or the World Health Organization has declared Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) as a pandemic because of its very fast spread and has infected 216 countries. Since the first time until July 2020, as many as 14,500,000 people from 216 countries have been infected and caused 606,000 deaths. Indonesia as a tropical country and an archipelagic country is also facing the transmission of COVID-19 as a public health threat. The number of islands in Indonesia as many as 17,504 islands and 34 provinces is a challenge for Indonesia to break the chain of transmission of COVID-19. The latest data in July 2020, shows the number of COVID-19 cases as many as 88,124 cases and 4,239 deaths. Indonesia also still has challenges in dealing with tropical diseases, such as dengue virus infection. The number of dengue cases experienced a rapid increase in early 2020 compared to the previous year. The Ministry of Health has recorded 68,000 cases of dengue infection and 446 deaths. The world health agency in its article entitled “WHO Global Strategy for Dengue Prevention and Control 2012-2020” shows that countries in the Southeast Asian region are dengue endemic areas. Dengue infection is often associated with seasonal changes that occur in the region. The pattern of increasing the number of dengue fever cases in Indonesia occurs from January to February, which is the peak of the rainy season. From January to June 2020, there were 68,753 dengue cases, while from mid-March 2020 where COVID-19 cases were first discovered, there were 6500 dengue cases. This allows for coinfection between COVID-19 patients and dengue fever. Recent studies have shown similarities between clinical symptoms and laboratory results between dengue and COVID-19. Clinical symptoms in dengue-infected patients are fever, petechiae, and skin rash. Differences in symptoms with COVID-19 patients are respiratory problems such as shortness of breath, cough, and diarrhea. Laboratory examinations between dengue infection and COVID-19 which show similarities are the occurrence of thrombocytopenia and thrombocytopenia. The causative agent of dengue infection and COVID-19 is a virus belonging to the RNA virus group, so that cross reactions can occur with the same ADE (Antibody dependent enhancement). This cross-reaction allows the occurrence of false positives in the rapid dengue examination. Failure to diagnose COVID-19 due to positive rapid dengue test results can have a negative impact on patients and health services. This will be a problem in Indonesia because of the limitations of diagnostic tools, especially real time RT-PCR which functions to carry out early detection and prevent transmission of COVID-19. Sources of funding for the health system in Indonesia are private funding and funding from the government/public. Public health system funding refers to a decentralized system of government with responsibility for provincial and district governments. The Ministry of Health as an extension of the central government has the responsibility to manage several tertiary and specialist hospitals. Excellent health services are very important in this pandemic era. Since the number of COVID-19 cases and dengue cases continues to increase, the number of beds in hospitals is limited. The central government has established regulations on distance restrictions in several areas, also known as PSBB (Large-Scale Social Restrictions) in several cities in Indonesia, namely Jakarta and Surabaya. The points in the PSBB include WFH (work from home) for office workers and online schools. However, in practice, it did not show a significant decrease in cases. Based on data in 2018, the number of hospitals in Indonesia is not evenly distributed with the highest distribution in East Java Province (381 hospitals) and the lowest in North Kalimantan (10 hospitals). The number of beds in hospitals throughout Indonesia in 2018 was 281,081 cases, with a population of 270 million in Indonesia, it can be estimated that for every 1000 people, only 1 bed is available. Management of COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms requires the presence of an intensive care unit (ICU) with a ventilator. The number of ventilators in Indonesia is 8413, so the ratio of ventilators to the population is 3.11 per 100,000 population, while the number of ICU beds is 3,500 (1.29 per 100,000 population). If it is estimated that the number of COVID-19 patients who experience severe symptoms is 5%, severe dengue patients are <1% and each COVID-19 patient requires 3 weeks of treatment to recover, then this can cause chaos in the health system. Based on the analysis of this situation, it can be concluded that it is necessary to avoid the transmission of COVID-19, so that a double burden on the health system can be avoided. The more human interaction, the higher the transmission of COVID-19 that occurs. Written by: Shifa Fauziyah, Febriana Aquaresta, Teguh Hari Sucipto, Herisa Nataliana Junus Source : news.unair.ac.id Picture’s Source: liputan6.com {:}{:id}Badan Kesehatan Dunia atau World Health Organization telah mendeklarasikan Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) sebagai pandemik dikarenakan persebarannya yang sangat cepat dan telah menginfeksi 216 negara. Sejak ditemukan pertama kali hingga bulan Juli 2020, sebanyak 14.500.000 orang dari 216 negara telah terinfeksi dan menyebabkan 606.000 kasus kematian. Indonesia sebagai Negara tropis dan Negara kepulauan juga berhadapan dengan transmisi COVID-19 sebagai ancaman kesehatan masyarakat. Jumlah pulau di Indonesia sebanyak 17.504 pulau dan 34 provinsi menjadi sebuah tantangan bagi Indonesia untuk memutus mata rantai transmisi COVID-19. Data terakhir pada bulan Juli 2020, menunjukkan jumlah kasus COVID-19 sebanyak 88.124 kasus dan 4.239 kematian. Indonesia juga masih memiliki tantangan dalam menghadapi penyakit tropis, seperti infeksi virus dengue. Jumlah kasus dengue mengalami peningkatan yang pesat pada awal tahun 2020 dibandingkan pada tahun sebelumnya. Kementerian Kesehatan telah mencatat sebanyak 68.000 kasus infeksi dengue dan 446 kematian. Badan kesehatan dunia dalam artikelnya yang berjudul “WHO Global Strategy for Dengue Prevention and Control 2012-2020” menunjukkan bahwa Negara di kawasan Asia Tenggara sebagai kawasan endemis dengue. Peningkatan infeksi dengue sering berkaitan dengan perubahan musim yang terjadi pada wilayah tersebut. Pola peningkatan jumlah kasus dengue di Indonesia terjadi pada bulan Januari hingga Februari yang merupakan puncak terjadinya musim hujan. Sejak bulan Januari hingga Juni 2020, terdapat kasus dengue sebanyak 68.753, sedangkan mulai pertengahan Maret 2020 dimana kasus COVID-19