In a study published in the journal Nature Medicine, experts from the National Institutes of Health, John Hopkins and Florida State University, looked into medicines already found in the market or are now in trials, whose compounds might be able to prevent the spread of Zika virus.
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That’s similar to the rates of hearing loss seen in other infections that damage fetuses, such as rubella, cytomegalovirus, herpes and syphilis.
“The Zika virus poses a global health threat”, said Anton Simeonov, PhD, NCATS scientific director.
Provinces where Zika virus patients are being treated were also instructed to immediately set up emergency operations centres to contain any outbreaks. For pregnant women, an infection could cause microcephaly, a serious birth defect.
Scientists suggest that children who used to be exposed to the Zika virus during pregnancy but were tested with normal hearing at initial screening should also receive regular follow-up tests.
President Obama said “Republicans in Congress should treat Zika like the threat that it is and make this their first order of business when they come back to Washington after Labor Day”.
They subsequently screened 6,000 compounds that were either already approved or were in the process of a clinical trial because they could be made more quickly available to people infected by Zika.
“The transfusion of a pregnant woman with blood infected with the Zika virus could have bad consequences”, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Peter Marks said during a conference call with reporters, Reuters reported. The new recommendations will stay in place until the threat of Zika transmission is reduced, the agency added.
The study is published in “Nature Medicine“, but Lee says work still needs to be done.
And on August 9, researchers in Brazil also reported on Zika’s possible links to serious deformities of joints in the arms and legs of newborns, a condition called arthrogryposis. Zika cases have been reported in 35 of Florida’s 67 counties.
Nicolsamide, a US Food and Drug Administration approved drug already used to combat parasitic infections by tapeworms, showed no danger to pregnant women in animal studies. They’ll be asked first thing whether they’ve been to Florida in the last 30 days and, in particular, Miami-Dade County, which has had confirmed cases of mosquito-transmitted Zika.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more information on mosquito-borne diseases.
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This Q & A will tell you what you need to know about Zika.
