Though it’s possible that one infant may have developed their hearing loss after being treated with antibioti cs, the remaining cases couldn’t be explained by any other potential causes, leaving the Zika virus as the likely culprit.
Advertisement
Using NCATS’ drug repurposing screening robots, researchers identified two classes of compounds effective against Zika: one is antiviral, and the other prevents Zika-related brain cell death. But Marks said that only 1 percent of donations in Puerto Rico have tested positive for Zika virus.
“This is a first step toward a therapeutic that can stop transmission of this disease”, said senior author Hengli Tang, a professor at Florida State University.
The FDA first recommended in February that only areas with active Zika transmission screen blood donations.
Dr. Luciana Borio, the FDA’s acting chief scientist, said, “As new scientific and epidemiological information regarding Zika virus has become available, it’s clear that additional precautionary measures are necessary”.
Zika may also be linked to Guillain-Barré Syndrome, which can cause muscles to be weak and sometimes leads to paralysis.
“It takes years if not decades to develop a new drug”, Song said.
The FDA updated its guidance because of the potentially serious health consequences of Zika to pregnant women and children born to women exposed to the virus during pregnancy.
Researchers have discovered existing drugs can treat the deadly virus which is spread to people through mosquito bites.
“We found was a group of compounds that seemed to work pretty good at stopping the virus at infecting cell, specifically when the virus tries to copy itself or replicate”, Emily Lee, co-author of the Zika study said.
In the United States, the Zika virus is most prevalent in Florida at this time, primarily near the city of Miami.
“Congenital infection with Zika virus should be considered a risk factor for hearing loss”, the researchers concluded.
Before the wide spreading of Zika in Florida happened, Congress representative Lloyd Doggett proposed to FDA to have a compulsory screening to all blood donations.
About 2,200 Zika cases have been reported in the continental USA and more than 13,000 in Puerto Rico, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Advertisement
Most people with Zika don’t have any symptoms (“asymptomatic”) and are unlikely to realize they’re infected, according to the CDC.
