City's Best Divine Doctor-Chapter 1563 - 1562: Antiviral Drugs

Looking at the weather, it seems it’s going to be gloomy for the next few days, with neither moonlight nor sunlight. Ye Qiu thought it would be impossible to absorb the essence of the sun and the moon for cultivation.

If he relies only on meditative cultivation, it’s unlikely to be very effective.

Now Ye Qiu was thinking about matters back in Jinling. As he walked outside, he didn’t expect Ma Wenwen to be following him. He wasn’t sure what Ma Wenwen wanted.

Thinking about those medical experts researching antiviral drugs, Ye Qiu wondered if there had been any progress. So, he went to see Director Wei.

Director Wei was at the village committee headquarters. These days, he finally had a moment to breathe, but as long as the antiviral drugs weren’t developed, he couldn’t fully relax.

When he saw Ye Qiu and Reporter Ma, Ye Qiu asked, "Director Wei, how is the antiviral drug research going?"

"It’s still ongoing. We’ve already partnered with the laboratories of several medical universities," Director Wei replied.

"How long will it take?"

"I’m not sure," said Director Wei, as it was impossible for him to know.

Research into Western medicine like this is probably not so easy.

Generally, the process by which a virus causes disease involves attachment, invasion, uncoating, synthesis, replication, assembly, and release within host cells.

Viruses primarily destroy cells, causing them to lyse, leading to cell death. When this occurs on a large scale, it naturally impacts human health. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Since viruses replicate using host cells and reside within them, unless the virus is ultimately eliminated by the body’s immune system, it’s challenging to kill the virus without damaging the cells.

Therefore, the current basic approach to combating viruses is a combination of vaccines and antiviral drugs. Viricides are mainly used externally.

Thus, the design concept for antiviral drugs mainly focuses on inhibiting viral proliferation, not killing the virus. In simple terms, the research process involves identifying the critical stages in the virus’s development mentioned earlier and designing drugs to disrupt them.

For example, the commonly known neuraminidase inhibitors. Neuraminidase is a glycoprotein on the viral envelope that helps new viruses leave the host cell to infect new cells. Without neuraminidase, the virus’s replication cycle is interrupted, thereby achieving an antiviral effect.

Based on this, a class of drugs was designed, with common examples being Zanamivir and Oseltamivir (Tamiflu).

Ye Qiu also knew that for viruses causing the common cold and fever, it’s generally impossible to kill the cold virus with standard medication, but relevant drugs can be used to combat it.

Upon hearing Director Wei’s comments, Ye Qiu thought, does that mean he’ll have to stay here for a long time?

"Director Wei, can you take me to see the research lab?"

The village’s quarantine area also has facilities for virus and drug research, but they are quite basic, nothing compared to major university labs. So, when related viruses are identified here, data is transmitted to other university labs in the country for collaborative research.

Now that Ye Qiu was going there, he thought the other medical experts wouldn’t make progress so quickly. He wondered if he could do it himself.

Ye Qiu had absorbed a lot of Soul Consciousness and knew how to research the related drugs specifically.

He had already accomplished the most crucial step, and he couldn’t believe he wouldn’t succeed in the next ones.

"Dr. Ye, what are you going to do in the lab?" Director Wei asked curiously.

"I want to try and see if it’s possible to research the relevant antiviral drugs," Ye Qiu said.

"You?"

Both Director Wei and Ma Wenwen couldn’t believe it.

However, very soon, when Ye Qiu treated patients and rapidly located bats carrying the virus, they both thought Ye Qiu might indeed find something.

"Let’s give it a try. I don’t want to linger here for too long." If they could quickly research the relevant antiviral drugs or develop corresponding vaccines, that would definitely be the best outcome.

Of course, vaccines weren’t immediately necessary yet. After all, the virus hadn’t spread outside the quarantine area on a large scale, but it was better to be prepared.

When Director Wei took Ye Qiu and Ma Wenwen to the lab, Ye Qiu waited outside. As staff emerged, Director Wei went to communicate, and the staff assumed they were just visitors.

However, the staff felt they were interrupting their work.

"Director Wei, we’re very busy right now; please don’t disturb us," the staff said.

Momentarily at a loss, Director Wei didn’t know what to do. So Ye Qiu said, "Call out Zhang Yilin."

Director Wei looked at the staff and said, "Please call Professor Zhang out; Dr. Ye wants to speak with him."

The lab researcher glanced at Ye Qiu and went back inside. Shortly after, a middle-aged man, Professor Zhang Yilin, emerged.

Now leading the team in researching relevant antiviral Western medicines, they were trying to figure out how these viruses damage human cells and why the body’s white blood cells couldn’t devour these viruses and bacteria.

Unexpected, upon hearing that Director Wei and a young man were looking for him, Zhang Yilin removed his mask and indeed saw Director Wei, Dr. Ye, and Reporter Ma.

"Dr. Ye, what can I do for you?" For saving his life, Professor Zhang remained very grateful to the young man.

Especially in that situation when bitten by a venomous snake, had it not been for the young man’s intervention, he might have died.

"Professor Zhang, how far has the antiviral drug research progressed?"

"We are still studying how these viruses attack human cells, and we haven’t analyzed it yet," Zhang Yilin responded.

Professor Zhang knew that such matters couldn’t be rushed; it would take at least half a month or even longer.

Moreover, the research team needed to thoroughly understand the virus structure and how they attack human cells, propagate massively, and destroy them.

All these needed to be understood before determining which Western medicine could disrupt these invaded cells.

And once researched, it needed to be tested on lab mice.

"Maybe I can help with the research," Ye Qiu offered.

"You? Dr. Ye, aren’t you a Chinese medicine practitioner?" Both Director Wei and Professor Zhang were surprised.

Professor Zhang knew Ye Qiu practiced Chinese medicine, while his research involved modern medicine.

"I studied Chinese medicine but also learned Western medicine."

"Do you really want to give it a try?" Professor Zhang asked again.

"Of course, I might be able to accelerate the research process," Ye Qiu said confidently. With the Soul Consciousness he had absorbed, he had acquired significant knowledge from brilliant minds.

So, although he seemed like one young man alone, he was equivalent to a team. Additionally, current research tools were more abundant, making experiments easier than before.