Scientists infect volunteers with Zika in hunt for vaccines, treatments
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[October 23, 2023]
By Jennifer Rigby
(Reuters) - Researchers in the United States have shown for the first
time they can safely and effectively infect human volunteers with Zika
virus, a step towards learning more about the disease and developing
vaccines and treatments.
The study – known as a "controlled human infection model" – has
previously been controversial for Zika because of the risks to
participants and lack of treatments.
But U.S. regulators and the World Health Organization ruled the new
model, developed by a team at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health, was safe and scientifically important.
Zika is a viral infection spread by mosquitoes, which is usually mild or
asymptomatic.
But a major outbreak in the Americas in 2015 and 2016 showed it can be
dangerous for pregnant women and foetuses, causing devastating birth
defects such as microcephaly, a disorder in which a child is born with
an abnormally small head and brain.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Oct/23/images/ads/current/ldn_sda_NILA_012823.png)
There are no vaccines or treatments, and the outbreak in the Americas
ended before new ones could be fully tested. Infections have dwindled
worldwide since, with about 40,000 reported last year from that region.
But the WHO has warned that surveillance can be patchy, and transmission
patterns for Zika are not well understood. Climate change is also likely
to boost the spread, which is already established in 91 countries.
Anna Durbin, the Johns Hopkins professor who led the study, said
developing countermeasures was essential because infections could
re-surge.
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![](../images/102323PIX/health12.jpg)
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are seen in a cage at the CNEA (National
Atomic Energy Commission), in Ezeiza, in the outskirts of Buenos
Aires, Argentina April 12, 2023. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian/File
photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Oct/23/images/ads/current/bennet_lda_010722.png) Also significant, she added, was the
mental health burden on pregnant women in endemic regions, who worry
about the virus and their babies but have limited protection
options.
Durbin and her colleagues used two strains of Zika
to infect 20 female volunteers who were not pregnant or lactating.
All developed laboratory confirmed infections, with mild illness.
Eight others got a placebo.
To minimize the risks, the patients were admitted to an inpatient
unit and monitored until they were free of the virus. They agreed to
use birth control methods for two months.
The next step is evaluating the strains in male volunteers, in part
to assess how long the virus, which can be sexually transmitted,
stays infectious in semen.
Durbin said several vaccine manufacturers have already asked to use
the strains to test experimental products.
The data was presented as an abstract at the annual meeting of the
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in Chicago.
(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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