When its functions in health become dysregulated, AMPK can also play an active role in initiating or advancing human pathologies and diseases, including atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, inflammatory alterations and viral infections (Carling, 2017; Hardie, 2014; Hardie et al., 2012b; Jeon, 2016; Kim et al., 2016; Li et al., 2017). Here, PRKAA1 is linked to viral infectious disease.