Three new experimental Zika vaccines under development in the United States have been found to be “strikingly” effective at protecting monkeys from the mosquito-borne virus, a new study has found. “Therefore, clinical trials should proceed as quickly as possible”.
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Zika virus is most unsafe to pregnant women, because it can cause severe birth defects in babies if they are infected in the womb. Affected infants are born with small heads and often experience neurological problems and cognitive deficits as they get older.
The study comes 1 week after local transmission of Zika virus began in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood. Researchers would also be looking to prevent the disease in the general adult population.
A Pennsylvania company has already begun clinical trials of one vaccine, and the National Institutes of Health are launching them as well. Both of the vaccine trials are being assessed for how safe these vaccines are for human use.
“It’s very hard to predict timeframe as to when a vaccine might go through the arduous process of clinical trials and regulatory reviews, so I can’t give a date”, Barouch says. In contrast, eight other monkeys that had gotten a sham vaccine became infected. After the first vaccination, the monkeys developed antibodies for the virus.
A Science research article published yesterday (Aug. 4) shows that scientists may be on the right path to beat the Zika virus. Each version was tested in four monkeys, and another group of four monkeys received a placebo.
Because 80% of Zika infections will likely go unnoticed, a vaccine has been made a top priority since the virus erupted in the Americas previous year.
So far, the only mosquitoes in America carrying the Zika virus are confined to one neat square mile north of downtown Miami.
The first results of the NIAID Vaccine tests are expected in January 2017. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases also announced its human vaccine trial on Tuesday. Because most people infected with Zika suffer either mild flu-like symptoms or none at all, a pregnant woman may not even know she has it. Once those proteins are assembled, the body’s immune system should respond by making antibodies and T cells capable of neutralizing the Zika virus. “Infection diseases have traditionally been the greatest threat to solder health and readiness both in the field and in garrison”.
It’s modeled after an existing vaccine used to fight West Nile.
In the war against, two Maryland institutions are armed and ready with an army of investigational vaccines.
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With every House member and one-third of the Senate up for re-election, it’s time for lawmakers to take a break from asking voters to send them back to Washington and actually come back to Washington to do their jobs.
