Zika Vaccine to Protect Fetuses and Testicular Infections

Zika vaccine to protect fetuses against infection with just a single dose is a possibility. This new vaccine also protects the male reproductive system. A single-dose of this vaccine completely prevents against infection, a study at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston claimed. The findings are currently available in Nature Communications.

Although Zika infection typically results in mild or symptom-free infections in healthy individuals, infected pregnant women without symptoms may still give birth to a baby with birth defects like microcephaly. Similarly, infected men without noticeable signs of illness may still incur testicular injury and lowered sperm count. The Zika virus could infect the male reproductive system for several months, posing risk for sexual transmission.

"This study showed, for the first time, that a single-dose vaccine candidate could prevent Zika infection in non-human primates, block mother-to-fetus transmission, and stop male testis infection in mice," said UTMB's Pei-Yong Shi, senior author and the I.H. Kempner professor at the department of biochemistry and molecular biology. "Besides quickly mounting a protective immune response, this live-attenuated vaccine exhibited an excellent safety profile in both mouse and non-human primate models. Taken together, the results suggest that this vaccine merits further development in humans."

‘Single-dose Zika vaccine protects mother to-child-transmission.
It also protects the male reproductive system.’

"Having a Zika vaccine that can protect male reproductive systems, pregnant women and their unborn babies would improve public health efforts to avoid birth defects and other effects of the disease in regions where Zika is circulating," said Pedro Vasconcelos, director of Evandro Chagas Institute in Brazil and co-developer of this vaccine. "It's important to note that a single-dose vaccine is practically important; vaccines that require booster shots are impractically challenging for people living in developing regions where access to medical facilities may be limited."

Source: Eurekalert

Vaccination for Children

Vaccines are biological products that impart immunity to the recipient. Vaccines may be live attenuated, killed or toxoids.

Zika Fever

Zika virus is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes which causes mild fever with maculopapular rash. No treatment or vaccine is currently available.