Zika virus is mainly spread via mosquito bites.
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The National Institutes of Health teamed up with researchers from Florida State University and Johns Hopkins University to search for a way to stop Zika from replicating in the human body and killing fetal brain cells.
Through these screenings, FDA confirmed last Friday, that one Zika-infected person has already been prevented from donating blood. Three lead compounds, emiracsan, niclosamide and a CDK inhibitor known as PHA-690509, were identified as reducing neuronal cell death caused by Zika virus infection.
Women and men who are family planning should not travel to areas where Zika is common during the next year or so, she added. Theoretically, this compound could be prescribed by physicians today, although tests are still needed to determine a specific treatment regimen for ZVI, according to the investigators.
And the authors warn that other children who were infected with the virus in their mothers’ wombs may be born with or may develop hearing problems, even if they do not have visible physical birth defects.
“This is a first step toward a therapeutic that can stop transmission of this disease”, Tang said in a written statement.
“The idea was to identify drugs that are already out there that could be moved more quickly into clinical studies with people with Zika infections”, said Shelton Bradrick, a co-author of the study. In this sort of global health emergency, we do not have time.
FSU professor of biological science Hengli Tang, Johns Hopkins professors Guo-Li Ming and Hongjun Song and National Institutes of Health scientist Wei Zheng worked together to develop the compounds. The study published inCell Stem Cell by USA researchers found that the virus targets stem cells in parts of a fully grown mouse brain responsible for learning and memory and stops them proliferating.
The medicine, Nicolsamide, was previously shown to be safe for pregnant women, which may boost its rapid deployment to treat Zika infection, they reported in the journal Nature Medicine.
In the United States, there have been 584 cases of pregnant women infected with Zika, mostly as a result of traveling to areas where there is mosquito transmission.
Back in June, officials predicted that there would be no more than 16 cases of Zika among the 500,000 spectators and athletes attending the Rio Olympics, reported NPR.
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Researchers say they’ve screened 6,000 compounds to find ones that could stop Zika. “While we await the development of effective vaccines, which can take a significant amount of time, our identification of repurposed small molecule compounds may accelerate the translational process of finding a potential therapy”. “The rationale for the change in protocols is about prevention – for men to abstain from sex or use condoms with a pregnant partner if they are at risk for the virus because they traveled or have symptoms”.
