Vaccine race underway for Zika virus

Researchers are racing to develop a vaccine for the mosquito-borne Zika virus, with the UK Medical Research Council announcing an initial £1 million, the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases working on fast-tracking a vaccine and EU Research Commissioner Carlos Moedas announced €10 million for research into the virus.

The EU money will flow from Horizon 2020. “I have instructed my services….to mobilise €10 million for urgently needed research on the Zika virus in response to the upsurge in cases of severe congenital brain malformations across Latin America and their suspected link to Zika virus infections,” Moedas said.  

In addition, a number of companies have announced they are working on vaccines and diagnostic tests for Zika virus.

The European Commission made a similar announcement in 2014, when it mobilised €24.4 million for Ebola virus research.

The Zika threat has recently reached pandemic levels in Latin America and Brazil in particular. In May 2015 it was reported in Brazil and has spread rapidly to at least 20 other countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) expects infection of up to four million people in the region this year. On Monday it declared the Zika outbreak a global public health emergency.

The WHO is under pressure to act quickly in the fight against Zika, after drawing criticisms for its slow response to the Ebola outbreak.

Scientists think if a pregnant woman is infected, it could cause brain damage to the unborn child. The link has not yet been confirmed but several governments have urged women not to get pregnant for at least the next year.

Health authorities have so far recorded a limited number of cases in Europe, but the latest assessment by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control declares that the risk in the EU of transmission remains extremely low.

The virus, which is related to dengue, was first detected in 1947 in monkeys in Uganda, and for decades, caused only mild diseases across a narrow equatorial belt of Africa and Asia.