How can the collaborative scientific community be proactive and more agile – not just for Zika virus, but also for the next epidemic around the bend?
From the desks of Sean Ekins, CSO and Barry Bunin, CEO
You would have to be hiding under a rock to have not heard about the Zika virus which is being found in the Americas and spreading globally as people travel. The Zika virus, carried by one of humanity’s long-term pests the mosquito, so far appears to be capable of being sexually transmitted, as well as transmitted with blood transfusions and by birth. It has also recently been found in urine and saliva. There have been large numbers of children born with microcephaly which has been associated with the virus though this is not firm since causality has not been proven, yet the correlative relationship appears strong. We currently cannot predict what scientific discovery or epidemiological finding will be made next or how this will unfold.
It is pretty clear as with Ebola that we have no drug, no vaccine to help us. We have 60 years of knowledge and yet we do not have any therapeutics for treatment or prevention, because few people bothered to study Zika. For a long time it was just another mild virus with symptoms that could be tolerated. It did not kill you. Since the linkage with microcephaly, Zika has moved up the list of health concerns and the WHO recently announced a public health emergency of international concern.
It certainly looks like this is going to be an important virus in the Americas for quite a while. We have to ensure our blood supply is not contaminated, we have to ensure those with the virus do not pass it along to their partners. We have to stop the Mosquito in its path. But what about a cure, a treatment? Read the full article here: