In Vitro and In Vivo Antiviral Effect of Bee Venom on Rift Valley Fever Virus

This work aimed to document the in vitro and in vivo antiviral activity of Bee Venom (BV) against Rift Valley Fever virus (RVFV)in Baby Hamster Kidney (BHK) cell culture and in adult mice respectively. The toxicity inspection of Bee Venom on BHK cells and baby mice was studied in order to define the non-toxic dose clarified that various concentrations of BV (started from the premier concentration “1mg / ml up to 0.1 µg / ml) didn’t show any up normal cellular changes and no clinical signs or deaths in mice. The effective antiviral effect of BV against RVFV in BHK cells; as in vitro assay; was detected depending on the inhibition of the cytopathic effect of RVF virus using the undiluted venom and that diluted to100µg/ml.
In vivo investigation showed that mice received BV (100µg/ml/mouse) on the o, 1st, 2^nd, 3rd and 4th day post infection were able to resist the contagion showing protection rate of 100 - 70%, while those received the treating on the next subsequent days were unable to beat the infection and died by the 2-3 days next to infection. It could be consummated that bee venom could be used to treat or even to stop the progress of Rift Valley Fever infection when administrated on the appropiate time post exposure.