Zika vaccine trials begin – but fears remain over virus’s impact : newscientist

as declared in newscientist

Zika vaccine trials begin – but fears remain over virus's impact

Zika vaccine trials begin – but fears remain over virus's impact

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of HealthThere's finally some progress in the fight against Zika.A vaccine is being given to 160 people in Zika-hit Puerto Rico, and a preliminary study has identified two existing drugs that seem to protect human brain cells from the virus.The vaccine, developed by Inovio Pharmaceuticals, contains a synthetic DNA fragment similar to one in the virus itself.


in addition foxnews

Pennsylvania firm launches Zika vaccine trial in Puerto Rico

Pennsylvania firm launches Zika vaccine trial in Puerto Rico

A Pennsylvania drug company announced Monday that it has launched a clinical trial of an experimental Zika vaccine in Puerto Rico, the part of the U.S. hardest hit by the mosquito-borne virus.Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. will be testing its DNA-based vaccine candidate on 160 adult volunteers in Puerto Rico.If the results are promising, the company would meet with regulators next year to discuss plans to develop the vaccine, CEO J. Joseph Kim said.


moreover from scidev

Experts eye universal vaccine before next Zika outbreak

Experts eye universal vaccine before next Zika outbreak

"We are working on an inactivated vaccine in which you produce the virus, kill the virus and use the entire killed virus to obtain the antibodies that will neutralise the live virus." Jorge Kalil, Butantan Institute[MELBOURNE] Some of the world's leading experts attending the 16th International Congress of Immunology say the Zika epidemic will be gone in four years but it is still urgent to get a safe and effective vaccine "We think that the Zika virus will be around for three to four years and it will probably disappear and then reappear in people being born after that, who will be susceptible again.So there's an urgency to have a vaccine for women , who may get pregnant during this four-year time.We have to be very quick," says Jorge Kalil, head of Brazil's Butantan Institute and president of the International Union of Immunological Societies."We are working on an inactivated vaccine in which you produce the virus, kill the virus and use the entire killed virus to obtain the antibodies that will neutralise the live virus.