Zika Virus News and Research

Latest Zika Virus News and Research

International scientific team reports 'super-spreader' potential of Andes virus

"Super-spreader" events and extensive person-to-person contact propelled an outbreak of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in a small village in Argentina from 2018-2019, according to research published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

3 Dec 2020

KU Leuven vaccine candidate works against yellow fever and SARS-CoV-2 infection

Virologists at the Rega Institute at KU Leuven (Belgium) have developed a vaccine candidate against Covid-19 based on the yellow fever vaccine, which as a result also works against yellow fever. Results published today in Nature show that the vaccine protects hamsters from infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus after a single dose.

1 Dec 2020

Resveratrol shows potential as SARS-CoV-2 antiviral, study finds

A recent study reveals that resveratrol, a phenolic compound produced by spermatophytes, can inhibit the viral replication SARS-CoV-2.

27 Nov 2020

SARS-CoV-2 versus Zika: Comparing and contrasting the flow of research

An interesting study published on the preprint server medRxiv in November 2020, dealing not with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that is the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic, but with the publications that have appeared as a consequence of the outbreak, comparing them with the similar trove of publications that followed the Zika virus outbreak in 2016.

25 Nov 2020

Widely used antibiotic shows promise for fighting against Zika infections

In 2015, hundreds of children were born with brain deformities resulting from a global outbreak of Zika virus infections.

24 Nov 2020

Promising new antivirals target arboviruses and SARS-CoV-2: Nodosome inhibitors

A new study describes two promising small molecules that inhibit a host cell factor, called nucleotide binding oligomerization domain-containing protein 2 (NOD2), that inhibits the replication and spread of many arboviruses. This could lead to the development of broad-spectrum antivirals. The study's findings have been published on the preprint server bioRxiv*.

10 Nov 2020

Study may help develop effective drugs against COVID-19

Scientists at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Justus-Liebig University, Germany, have uncovered how the genome of SARS-CoV-2 - the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 - uses genome origami to infect and replicate successfully inside host cells.

5 Nov 2020

Genomic surveillance of yellow fever outbreak in São Paulo

Yellow fever virus is normally confined to the Amazon region, but the virus circulated in the Southeast of Brazil between 2016 and 2018, causing the worst epidemic and epizootic outbreaks there for decades.

5 Nov 2020

Study shows T cells can prevent Zika infection in mice

Where Aedes mosquitoes fly, Zika virus may not be far behind. Although the explosive 2015–2016 Zika epidemics in the Americas are behind us, Zika may re-emerge, and "in many countries, Zika may be spreading in silence," says Sujan Shresta, Ph.D., a professor at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI).

5 Nov 2020

Eye's cornea can resist infection from novel coronavirus

New findings from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest the eye's cornea can resist infection from the novel coronavirus.

3 Nov 2020

5-amino levulinic acid inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro

Researchers tested 5-amino levulinic acid in vitro in human-derived cells and found it prevents severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Because it is safe and ubiquitous in plants and animals, it could be a potential drug against SARS-CoV-2.

1 Nov 2020

First-of-its-kind synthetic DNA vaccine designed against Powassan virus

Scientists at The Wistar Institute have designed and tested the first-of-its-kind synthetic DNA vaccine against Powassan virus (POWV), targeting portions of the virus envelope protein.

30 Oct 2020

Antiviral inhibitor DDX42 shows broad activity against Chikungunya, HIV and SARS-CoV-2

By exploiting type 1 interferon's ability to foster an antagonistic cellular environment for viral replication, a research group from France pinpointed DEAD-box RNA helicase DDX42 as an intrinsic inhibitor of HIV, but also other pathogenic viruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Chikungunya virus.

29 Oct 2020

Researchers describe factors that reduce placenta's capacity to protect fetus from zika virus

Genetic factors that reduce the placenta's capacity to protect the fetus from the zika virus are described by Brazilian researchers in an article published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

28 Oct 2020

Research elucidates the molecular mechanism of lentiviral cross-species transmission

Humans are exposed continuously to the menace of viral diseases such as those caused by the Ebola virus, Zika virus and coronaviruses. Such emerging/re-emerging viral outbreaks can be triggered by cross-species viral transmission from wild animals to humans.

7 Oct 2020

Study shows how Zika virus degrades key protein involved in neurological growth

In a study published in Autophagy, researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) shed new light on how Zika virus hijacks our own cellular machinery to break down a protein that is essential for neurological development and cellular communication, getting it to "eat itself."

29 Sep 2020

Experimental cancer drug AR-12 inhibits SARS-CoV-2 virus

Nine months into the global pandemic, which has infected more than 32 million people, there is still no approved effective and safe drug or vaccine against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

24 Sep 2020

In vitro testing suggests effective novel drug combinations for SARS-CoV-2

A recent study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in September 2020 shows the value of drug combinations to enhance the therapeutic and preventive efficacy of such repositioned drugs in standard antiviral therapy.

20 Sep 2020

Study shows what happens in the fetal brain affected by congenital Zika syndrome

Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause severe abnormalities in the fetus, including malformations such as microcephaly.

3 Sep 2020

NIAID awards $17 million to establish the Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one of the National Institutes of Health, today announced that it has awarded 11 grants with a total first-year value of approximately $17 million to establish the Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

27 Aug 2020