Zika Virus: Medical Countermeasure Development Challenges.

• Published in: PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Robert W Malone, Jane Homan, Michael V Callahan, Jill Glasspool-Malone, Lambodhar Damodaran, Adriano De Bernardi Schneider, Rebecca Zimler, James Talton, Ronald R Cobb, Ivan Ruzic, Julie Smith-Gagen, Daniel Janies, James Wilson, Zika Response Working Group
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic; Argentina; Barré
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004530; https://doaj.org/article/ae4d1ca440924cc49aabdd8c594c4fc4

INTRODUCTION:Reports of high rates of primary microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome associated with Zika virus infection in French Polynesia and Brazil have raised concerns that the virus circulating in these regions is a rapidly developing neuropathic, teratogenic, emerging infectious public health threat. There are no licensed medical countermeasures (vaccines, therapies or preventive drugs) available for Zika virus infection and disease. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) predicts that Zika virus will continue to spread and eventually reach all countries and territories in the Americas with endemic Aedes mosquitoes. This paper reviews the status of the Zika virus outbreak, including medical countermeasure options, with a focus on how the epidemiology, insect vectors, neuropathology, virology and immunology inform options and strategies available for medical countermeasure development and deployment. METHODS:Multiple information sources were employed to support the review. These included publically available literature, patents, official communications, English and Lusophone lay press. Online surveys were distributed to physicians in the US, Mexico and Argentina and responses analyzed. Computational epitope analysis as well as infectious disease outbreak modeling and forecasting were implemented. Field observations in Brazil were compiled and interviews conducted with public health officials.