Zoonotic & Vector-Borne Diseases

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Researchers at the NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), working with colleagues at Johns Hopkins and Florida State University have identified compounds that “potentially can be used to inhibit Zika virus replication and reduce its ability to kill brain cells.”

In the first research of its kind, an interdisciplinary group of scientists analyzed three Zika strains in second trimester fetal neural stem cells (fNSC) to identify which viral proteins cause congenital microcephaly. Since Zika causes significant neurological impairment, early diagnosis is imperative.

The four previously reported non–travel-related cases of Zika infection have now been confirmed to be locally acquired in Miami-Dade county, Florida.

In response to the growing outbreak, and the escalating need for a vaccine that can be used in infants, those who are immunocompromised, and other populations in whom currently available vaccines are not to be administered, the NIAID has entered a vaccine manufactured by Bavarian Nordic into Phase I trials.