The vaccinated animals showed no evidence of active virus after being infected with the Zika virus and both vaccines were safe as well as effective. The research, conducted by investigators supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, suggests that similar vaccines for people could be similarly protective.
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The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last fall in Brazil, which has now confirmed more than 1,400 cases of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Dengue, a related mosquito-borne virus, previously swept through much of the same territory Zika is now moving through, andsome scientists have speculated a prior dengue infection could make the impact of Zika worse.
A Haitian woman in Florida has delivered the first baby in the state born with the birth defect microcephaly caused by the Zika virus, Florida’s health department said on Tuesday. Other mice receiving the DNA vaccine were exposed to virus eight weeks later.
However, both triggered the same response in mice: they caused the rodents to produce antibodies that target specific proteins in the virus. If that’s not possible, use repellants and try to reduce the risk of getting bitten by Zika-infected mosquitoes.
The vaccine candidates described in Nature are not the only Zika vaccines being developed.
But it won’t be a simple transition from finding an effective vaccine for mice to developing one that will work for humans. In early Zika studies, mice with weakened immune systems were used, but these mice exhibited differences in infection from humans, particularly in how the virus alters blood flow, and can not be used to study the immune response to the virus.
In the study, David O’Connor and colleagues inoculated eight rhesus macaques – including two pregnant monkeys – with a strain of Zika virus now circulating in the Americas.
“The explosion of the current [Zika virus] outbreak and the devastating clinical consequences for foetuses in pregnant women who become infected demand the urgent development of a [Zika] vaccine”, said Barouch in a press release.
As Zika spreads to the United States, women living in the states most likely to be hardest-hit, including Florida, Mississippi, and Texas, face a situation that may not be so different from that of women in Brazil, Venezuela, and Ecuador. However, the number of cases of infection among pregnant women keeps climbing.
In many people, Zika infection causes no symptoms, while others may suffer a mild illness for a few days, with raised temperature, rash, joint pain, or conjunctivitis (itchy or sore eyes).
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This was the first report of complete Zika protection in an animal model, he claimed, and “a step forward in the development of a Zika virus vaccine”.
