The trial will let scientists and researchers know whether the vaccine is safe for usage on humans and the effect that it has on immune system response will also be measured. “Clinical trials should proceed as quickly as possible”.
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According to the CDC, the Zika virus has affected 52 countries and territories around the world.
The Pilot Bioproduction Facility at WRAIR has manufactured a batch of ZPIV vaccine to be used in clinical studies.
To develop the vaccine, researchers kill the virus with chemicals, leaving behind harmless proteins that the body can learn to recognize as foreign invaders. “Then we have to show that they really work”. This kind of vaccine is much safer than ones that depend on live virus particles to foster immunity.
After their first injection, participants of the study will return to check-ups for the next 44 weeks to evaluate their health and the vaccine’s effectiveness.
“We’ve got to get it through their thick heads, the hard heads of the other senators and particularly the majority leaders, Zika can be spread by not only by a mosquito bite, but if one of the residents in Miami-Dade that has been infected travels to the state of the majority leader, Kentucky, and if another mosquito bites that infected person in Kentucky, and that mosquito goes and feeds on other people, Zika is spreading”.
These bottles contain a substance which helps grow the Zika virus.
Barouch, who is director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel, said the plan would be for a vaccine that could be distributed similarly to flu shots, and he said authorities would “first concentrate on the highest-risk groups” in distributing vaccines. The other is developed by a private pharmaceutical company, and it started clinical testing last month.
In this latest study on rhesus macaques, published in the journal Science, these two vaccines were again tested, as well as a third candidate – an adenovirus vector-based vaccine.
They noted that it provoked a broader and more potent antibody response than the DNA vaccine, suggesting it might be slightly more effective. One vaccine had just the man-made proteins in it, the other wrapped a common cold virus around the proteins. These will cause an immune response against the virus, thus protecting from infection, the researchers said.
That puts the project ahead of schedule, since the original launch of the phase I trials was expected to start in September, Fauci said.
A full engorged mosquito rests on the skin after feeding.
Wednesday’s announcement follows news from Florida, where 15 people have contracted the virus from local mosquitoes in recent weeks. “So we’re cautiously optimistic”. “NIAID worked expeditiously to ready a vaccine candidate, and results in animal testing have been very encouraging”.
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The news comes in the same week officials in Florida said 14 people had been infected with the virus in Miami and two babies in the U.S. were born with microcephaly due to being infected in the womb with the Zika virus.
