Zika Virus News and Research

Latest Zika Virus News and Research

FDA grants clearance to Hologic’s assay for detection of common sexually transmitted infections

Hologic, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted clearance for its Aptima Mycoplasma genitalium assay, the first and only FDA-cleared test to detect this under-recognized but increasingly common sexually transmitted infection (STI).

23 Jan 2019

Previous dengue virus infection associated with protection from symptomatic Zika

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.

23 Jan 2019

Study: Prior dengue immunity in children may be protective against symptomatic Zika

Children with a history of prior dengue virus infection had a significantly lower risk of being symptomatic when infected by Zika virus, according to a study in Nicaragua of more than 3,000 children aged 2 to 14 years.

23 Jan 2019

Study: Prior dengue infection could protect children from symptomatic Zika

A prior dengue virus infection could protect children from symptomatic Zika virus infection, according to a study by an international group of researchers including those from the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley.

23 Jan 2019

DZIF scientists reveal problems with available diagnostics for Zika and chikungunya virus

Millions of people have contracted Zika and chikungunya virus infections since the outbreaks that have been striking Latin America since 2013. Particularly Zika-related malformations in newborns warrant reliable diagnostics.

18 Jan 2019

Cellular protein that interacts with viruses appears to enable infection process of Zika virus

A cellular protein that interacts with invading viruses appears to help enable the infection process of the Zika virus, according to an international team of researchers who suggest this protein could be a key target in developing new therapies to prevent or treat Zika virus infection.

17 Jan 2019

FDA approves initiation of first-in-human trial of DNA-encoded monoclonal antibody

The Wistar Institute, along with partners Penn Medicine and Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announce that the FDA has approved the initiation of a first-in-human clinical trial investigating the safety and tolerability of a novel synthetic DNA-encoded monoclonal antibody therapeutic technology for the prevention of Zika virus infection.

9 Jan 2019

Scientists identify wildlife species that are most likely to host flaviviruses

After collecting data and comparing it with every known mammal and bird species on Earth, scientists from the University of California, Davis, have identified wildlife species that are the most likely to host flaviviruses such as Zika, West Nile, dengue and yellow fever.

6 Jan 2019

KU Leuven scientists develop new vaccine against Zika virus

Scientists at the KU Leuven Rega Institute in Belgium have developed a new vaccine against the Zika virus. This vaccine should prevent the virus from causing microcephaly and other serious conditions in unborn babies.

19 Dec 2018

Study finds drug targets for Ebola, Dengue, and Zika viruses

No drugs are currently available to treat Ebola, Dengue, or Zika viruses, which infect millions of people every year and result in severe illness, birth defects, and even death. New research from the Gladstone Institutes and UC San Francisco may finally change that. Scientists identified key ways the three viruses hijack the body's cells, and they found at least one potential drug that can disrupt this process in human cells.

13 Dec 2018

Risk Analysis publishes special issue on communicating about Zika virus

Today, Risk Analysis, an International Journal, published a special issue, "Communicating About Zika," which features several articles that were originally presented as works-in-progress at the Zika Communication Summit convened in March 2017 by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

10 Dec 2018

New vaccine candidate for Zika virus proves to be effective in mice and monkeys

Researchers at the University of Hawaii medical school have successfully developed a vaccine candidate for the Zika virus, showing that it is effective in protecting both mice and monkeys from the infection.

5 Dec 2018

Researchers generate six antibodies to diagnose and treat Zika virus

Researchers have generated six Zika virus antibodies that could be used to test for and possibly treat a mosquito-borne disease that has infected more than 1.5 million people worldwide.

29 Nov 2018

The Native Antigen Company launches ground-breaking Zika virus immunoassays

The Native Antigen Company has launched a series of ground-breaking immunoassays for Zika virus, offering researchers in academia, public health and drug discovery the capability to work with unprecedented levels of specificity and sensitivity.

29 Nov 2018

Why Mosquitoes prefer some people over others: Genetic discovery

A new study has tried to assess the genetic variants among mosquitoes that make them more susceptible to spreading deadly viral diseases such as dengue, yellow fever, Zika and chikungunya and more resistant to insecticides that are used to kill them.

25 Nov 2018

Scientists discover biomarkers for Zika-related birth defects

Scientists at USC have discovered biomarkers for fetal birth defects in the blood of pregnant women infected with Zika.

2 Nov 2018

Wild monkeys in the Americas transmit Zika virus to humans via mosquitoes, reports study

A collaborative group of researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and the Faculty of Medicine of Sao Jose do Rio in Brazil is the first to report that wild monkeys in the Americas are transmitting the Zika virus to humans via mosquitoes, making complete eradication of the virus in the Americas very unlikely.

2 Nov 2018