Zika vaccine call
February 2, 2016
THE World Health Organization
has declared the mosquito transmitted
Zika virus a global
health emergency and US president
Barack Obama has encouraged
health officials to urgently develop
tests, vaccines and treatments to
fight the disease, which has been
linked to birth defects.
Only a handful of Zika virus cases
have been reported in Australia
so far (PD 28 Jan) and all were
infected while travelling overseas,
but with the prevalence of the
transmitter aedes aegypti mosquito
in far North Queensland, the
potential exits for more events,
authorities said.
The US Centers for Disease Control
(CDC) has told pregnant women not
to travel to Latin America or even
to the summer Olympics in Brazil.
US scientists have warned that
although testing could begin in two
years, it could be a decade before a
vaccine is publicly available.
Announcing new research funding
on Friday, Brazil Health Minister
Marcelo Castro set a goal for the
Sao Paulo-based Butantan Institute
to develop “in record time” a
vaccine for Zika, while the institute
director Jorge Kalil said that it is
expected take three to five years to
achieve the goal.
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