Vet students’ research highlights One Health approach to swine coronavirus treatment

A study by Year 4 Veterinary students, Dimitra Kavalierou and Ilektra Nikopoulou, under the supervision of Assistant Professor Manos C. Vlasiou, was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal In Silico Research in Biomedicine.

The findings of the study, which is titled ‘One Health in Action: Structure-Based Drug Repurposing for Porcine Delta and Epidemic Diarrhea Viruses’ were initially presented as part of the 2025 University of Nicosia Health Student Research Conference. Subsequently, the students’ research achieved international visibility through the 1st International Online Conference on Veterinary Sciences (MDPI/Sciforum) in November 2025. You can find the relevant poster here.

The study applies advanced computational drug repurposing and molecular dynamics methodologies to address viral diseases of significant importance to animal health, food security, and public health, demonstrating a One Health approach.

Specifically, it aims at finding potential antiviral treatments for two major swine coronaviruses: Porcine Delta Coronavirus (PDCoV) and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV). These viruses cause severe diarrheal disease in piglets and currently lack approved antiviral therapies.

The study demonstrates how drug repurposing can accelerate the identification of viable antiviral candidates for veterinary use. By applying a One Health framework, it shows that existing human therapeutics such as saquinavir can be strategically evaluated for emerging and economically significant animal diseases.