Research teams hone in on Zika vaccines, but challenges remain
"The pace of preclinical and early clinical development for Zika vaccines is unprecedented," said Barouch, corresponding author and director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at BIDMC. "In less than a year, our group and others have demonstrated that multiple vaccine platforms can provide robust protection against Zika virus challenge in animal models. However, unique challenges will need to be addressed in the clinical development of a Zika vaccine. " The recent outbreak of the Zika virus in the Americas began in Brazil nearly two years ago. By February 2016, the World Health Organization had declared the epidemic a global public health emergency, based largely on the virus' newly-established link to microcephaly and other major birth defects in babies born to infected mothers. The virus has also been associated with the neurologic disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults. In a previously published paper, Barouch and colleagues, including Co...