Tag: Zika

Zika virus’ key into brain cells ID’d, leveraged to block infection and kill cancer cells

Zika virus infection can stunt neonatal brain development, a condition known as microcephaly, in which babies are born with abnormally small heads. To determine how best to prevent and treat the viral infection, scientists first need to understand how the pathogen gets inside brain cells. Employing different approaches to answer different questions, two research teams

Only the tip of the iceberg: Germany threaten new disease waves

Many viruses have been recognized to be a fatal triumph to the world. Tropical pathogens, such as the Zika Virus appears, increasingly, to Europe, among other things, because the transmitting mosquitoes spread increased. Germany, too, new disease waves threaten to completely. Exotic pathogens spread increasingly also in Europe. Currently, French authorities have reported two first,

The Zika virus discovered on the African continent

Researchers from the University of Oxford teamed up with the Angolan Ministry of Health to study the introduction and circulation of the Asian genotype of Zika virus in Angola, southwestern Africa. The Asian genotype caused the 2015-16 epidemic of microcephaly and other birth defects in the Americas. Their findings are published today in The Lancet

Rheumatoid arthritis drug diminishes Zika birth defects in mice

In experiments with pregnant mice infected with the Zika virus, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report they have successfully used a long-standing immunosuppressive drug to diminish the rate of fetal deaths and birth defects in the mice’s offspring. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medicine, anakinra, once commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune

Dengue virus immunity may protect children from Zika symptoms

Previous infection with dengue virus may protect children from symptomatic Zika, according to a study published January 22 in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Eva Harris of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues. Zika virus emerged in northeast Brazil in 2015 and spread rapidly across the Americas, affecting populations that have been largely

NIH begins clinical trial of live, attenuated Zika vaccine

Vaccinations have begun in a first-in-human trial of an experimental live, attenuated Zika virus vaccine developed by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. The trial will enroll a total of 28 healthy, non-pregnant adults ages 18 to 50 at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg

Maternal dengue immunity protects against fetal damage in mice following Zika infection

Dengue and Zika viruses are closely related and carried by mosquitos. In infested subtropical and tropical areas, dengue transmission often precedes Zika virus (ZIKV) infection, suggesting that women who previously acquired dengue immunity may be bitten by ZIKV-carrying mosquitoes during pregnancy. Whether that mother’s prior dengue immunity would protect her unborn baby from devastating brain

California Aedes mosquitoes capable of spreading Zika

Over the last five years, Zika virus has emerged as a significant global human health threat following outbreaks in South and Central America. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have shown that invasive mosquitoes in California — where cases of Zika in travelers have been a regular occurrence in recent years — are

Bioengineers identify safer way to make rugby tackles: Their recommendations should reduce the risk of players suffering concussions and other head injuries

Bioengineers have compiled a set of recommendations that could significantly reduce concussions and other head injuries in rugby union, having assessed how head impacts and movement vary based on the position on the body where tackles are made. The bioengineers discovered that the risks are not precisely the same for the two groups, as tacklers