The study, performed by dozens of scientists led by Hengli Tang, a virologist at Florida State Univeristy and Guo-li Ming, neurologist in Johns Hopkins was conducted in four laboratories in Johns Hopkins University, Florida State University and Emory University.
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Colombia has seen more than 47,700 cases of Zika, including thousands of pregnant women infected with the mosquito-borne virus, the country’s National Health Institute reported on Saturday, March 5.
The new study published in the journal Cell Stem Cell found that the virus directly targets a cell type called human embryonic cortical neural progenitors in as little as three days after being exposed to the virus. Researchers set the virus loose on isolated stem cells and found that Zika selectively targeted cells necessary for brain growth and development.
Zhexing Wen, one of the researchers at Johns Hopkins, said the virus has an affinity for attacking neural progenitor cells as opposed to other cells.
Health officials said Friday that a case of Zika virus infection has been confirmed in a Missouri man who had traveled to Haiti, a known area of Zika transmission.
The news was made public after Napa County health officials had reported a pregnant woman testing positive for Zika. IL reports five cases, including two pregnant women. They were already running a study of dengue virus, asking pregnant women to come in and be tested if they showed symptoms of dengue, such as a rash.
The CDC says humans are most likely to be infected with the Zika virus by a bite from a mosquito carrying the disease.
At present, the Zika virus scare is felt in the latin counties where hundreds of babies in Brazil, the epicenter of the Zika outbreak, are affected.
Nielsen said microcephaly may be one of many abnormalities in what she referred to as Zika Virus Congenital Syndrome. The malady causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and brain problems.
The virus, which can also be sexually transmitted, has been linked to microcephaly in the newborns of infected mothers. He and Ming are now using the cells to find out more about the effects of Zika infection on the developing cortex.
The Florida Department of Health’s Zika Virus Information Hotline has assisted 909 callers since its February 12 launch.
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CDC reports say people with Zika usually don’t get sick enough to go to the hospital and rarely die of the virus. It has given proofs needed to show that microcephaly is strongly linked to Zika infection, said Amesh Adalja, an expert of infectious diseases from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Center for Health Security.
