Artelinic acid (6d) and Metaartelic acid (8), water soluble dihydroartemisinin derivatives with antimalarial activity, were prepared by direct etherification of dihydroartemisinin (2) with appropriate hydroxymethyl z=benzoic acid.
Sesquiterpenes ; Ethers

Some new antimalarial water soluble derivatives of artemisinin were prepared by etherification of dihydroartemisinin with appropriate aryl alcohols. They are artelinat and metaartelinat. Influence of catalists and solvent on the etherification and the antimalarial activity of them as well as artesunat were studied.
Artelinic acid ; Pharmaceutical Preparations ; therapeutics ; malaria

As authorities braced for the arrival of the Omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), infrastructure investments and government directives prompted action in central Viet Nam to establish capacity for genomic surveillance sequencing. From 17 November 2021 to 7 January 2022, the Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang sequenced 162 specimens from 98 150 confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases in the region collected from 8 November to 31 December 2021. Of these, all 127 domestic cases were identified as the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant, whereas 92% (32/35) of imported cases were identified as the B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant, all among international flight passengers. Patients were successfully isolated, enabling health-care workers to prepare for additional cases. Most (78%) of the 32 Omicron cases were fully vaccinated, suggesting continued importance of public health and social measures to control the spread of new variants.