In addition to 24 new Zika cases, nine were detected in the health ministry’s “look-back” testing of previous cases, a ministry statement said.
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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.
Researchers at Florida State University and Johns Hopkins teamed up and discovered already existing drug compounds that have been shown to fight the virus. Those children all had severe microcephaly, the researchers reported.
Another antiviral drug potentially effective against Zika is PHA-690509.
In February, the FDA recommended testing of donated blood and blood components only in areas where Zika was actively spreading, but agency officials now say that universal testing is needed to further protect those who get donated blood. The drug, Emricasan, inhibits a natural process that causes programmed cell death.
Blood banks are already required to test for HIV, hepatitis, West Nile and other blood-borne viruses.
The Zika virus is transmitted primarily by the Aedes aegypti mosquito but can also be spread by sexual contact.
Much of the state’s focus on local transmissions has been on Miami’s Wynwood area and on an area in Miami Beach.
The FDA recommended blood collections cease in Florida and the three US territories with active Zika transmission until blood establishments begin screening donations or using pathogen reduction technology.
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.
Women and men who are family planning should not travel to areas where Zika is common during the next year or so, she added. Babies born to women infected during any stage of pregnancy are at risk.
According to the Oregon Health Authority, neither of the two types of mosquitoes that carry Zika are common to Oregon. 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.
They are aggressive feeders, commonly biting multiple people in quick succession, fueling the spread of the virus.
“Right now we’re working in mice to see if we can also have these drugs work as well”, Lee said.
More than 2,500 people in the United States have been diagnosed with Zika, along with more than 9,000 in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
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This Q & A will tell you what you need to know about Zika.
