A team of Florida State University researchers is behind a new discovery in treating the Zika virus.
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One compound is now sold as a tapeworm treatment and another is the basis of Nicolsamide, a U.S. FDA-approved drug commonly used to treat tapeworm. The other stops the virus from killing fetal brain cells. The virus poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects, including microcephaly.
“We focused on compounds that have the shortest path to clinical use”, Tang said.
A Florida State University professor is part of a research team that may have taken the first steps in creating a vaccine to stop Zika.
Legacy Community Health announced it is expanding the screening process since the virus is transmitted sexually.
To-date, the Health Department has distributed 1,200 Zika prevention kits to pregnant women and more than 5,000 Environmental Protection Agency-approved repellents have been given out to the public, according to the press release.
The findings were first reported Monday by Nature Medicine. It is commonly used to treat tapeworm.
Right now there are 43 locally contracted Zika infections in Florida and more than 400 travel related cases.
With FDA approval, Roche’s test now can be used to screen patients exhibiting Zika symptoms that meet CDC criteria, including fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes.
There are now about 2,500 cases of Zika in the United States, and local mosquito-borne Zika virus transmission has been reported in two areas of Miami, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
“In this sort of global health emergency, we don’t have that kind of time”, Song noted. According to the new guidance, individual units of blood should be tested using blood screening tests authorized by the FDA under an investigational new drug application, or when it becomes available, a licensed blood screening test.
This, the researchers say, could mean the hearing problems stem from Zika as the issue appears to be caused by damage to the nerve that links the ear with the brain.
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They hope to begin testing the new compounds on animals soon.
