Engineered lectins and methods of using such reagents for both preventing and treating a broad array of viral infections are provided. The lectins of the invention are engineered in two ways, first through the enhancement of the natural mode of action of lectins against viruses through linked multimerization, and second through the creation of a new class of reagents, hereinafter referred to as a “lectibody” or “lectibodies”, that engage host immune function in addition to simply binding glycosylated viral proteins via the combination of a lectin and the Fc region of an antibody in order to drive Fc-mediated effector functions including ADCC (antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity), increased half-life, complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC), and antibody-dependent cell-mediated phagocytosis (ADCP) in response to a lectin-mediated carbohydrate-binding event.
