Antibody May Promise Zika Vaccine

As we know Zika spread by an infected Aedes mosquito bite.

People have different body reactions to infections so some may not get ill while others may become ill with fever, rash, joint pain, muscle pain, headache, and pinkeye. Often the symptoms are not severe and last not more than a week. On the other hand, Zika virus has sever consequences on pregnant women.

 

A report was conducted following the increase of the Zika virus in French Polynesia in 2014 and Brazil on 2015.  At this time, there is no vaccine against Zika and the only way to prevent getting an infection is to prevent getting a mosquito bit.  But now researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, TN say they have uncovered a naturally occurring antibody called ZikV -177 that could protect the developing fetus from the Zika virus, bring us closer to a Zika vaccine.

 

 

ZIKA -177 protected pregnant mice and their fetuses against Zika.

For the study, co-senior author Dr. Michael Diamond, the Herbert S. Gasser professor of medicine at Washington, and colleagues took blood samples from adults who had been infected with Zika virus.

 

The researchers applied the antibody to pregnant mice, either one day before or one day after they were infected with Zika virus. And found that ZIKV -177 reduced levels of Zika virus in pregnant mice and their fetuses.
 

According to co author Indira Mysorekar, Ph.D. and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and pathology and immunology at Washington,

“The anti-Zika antibodies are able to keep the fetus safe from harm by blocking the virus from crossing the placenta” she adds. Results show promise for Zika vaccine.