Zika virus is easy to underestimate. For many people, infection causes no symptoms at all, or only a fever, rash, and joint pain. But when the mosquito-borne virus spread explosively through the Americas in 2015 and 2016, it exposed a far darker side: infection during pregnancy could impact fetal brain development, causing microcephaly and other birth defects now grouped as congenital Zika syndrome.
Part of the challenge is that Zika does not circulate alone. The virus belongs to the same mosquito-borne family as dengue, yellow fever, West Nile, and Japanese encephalitis viruses, and it is especially similar to dengue, which spreads in many of the same regions.
That resemblance matters because antibodies raised against one virus can sometimes recognize another without fully neutralizing it. In some cases, those cross-reactive antibodies can make infection worse through antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), raising concerns that a conventional Zika vaccine could…
Click here to view original post
Click Here to Publish/Feature Your Company or Product News with Biotech Networks
