The route to publication of a research can be a long, slow one, and findings are usually not shared until after they have been published in a peer-reviewed journal. In the wake of the ongoing Zika outbreak, top research institutions, funders and publishers said that they would make all scientific findings on the Zika virus available speedily, and free. A statement signed by Nature, Science and The Lancet, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, France's Institut Pasteur, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development said that data was a crucial tool in fighting the public health emergency.
‘Data is a crucial tool in fighting the Zika outbreak. Therefore, top research institutions, funders and publishers have agreed to make all scientific findings on the Zika virus available speedily and free.’
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The document said, "Journal signatories will make all content concerning the Zika virus free to access." For their part, research funders will require scientists to share interim as well as final data as rapidly and widely as possible.
The document stated, "The arguments for sharing data, and the consequences of not doing so, have been thrown into stark relief by the Ebola and Zika outbreaks. In the context of a public health emergency of international concern, there is an imperative on all parties to make any information available that might have value in combating the crisis."
The statement urged other organizations to follow suit.
Other signatories included Doctors Without Borders (MSF in its French acronym), The New England Journal of Medicine, PLOS Science Journals, the South African Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.
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Trudie Lang, director of the Global Health Network, said, "The response to Zika - even more so than in the case of Ebola - was being hamstrung by the many unknowns. We are still to prove that Zika causes microcephaly, and we need to know at what point damage happens in pregnancy, should this be the case. In addition we need to develop better diagnostic tools and agree how to interpret anomaly scans to assess how these affected babies are developing."
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Infectious diseases professor Mark Woolhouse from the University of Edinburgh described the commitment as one of the most welcome developments in decades. He said, "If acted upon, this declaration will save lives."
An outbreak of the usually benign Zika virus in Latin America and the Caribbean has coincided with a surge in babies with microcephaly, a condition that causes them to have unusually small heads and brains, leading to death or disability.
No scientific proof has been found that Zika causes microcephaly, though the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) has said that a link is 'strongly suspected' and has declared Zika a 'public health emergency of international concern'.
There is no cure or vaccine for the virus which, in most people, causes mild symptoms.
Source-AFP