Experts Gather Data on Zika Virus

With the rapid spread of Zika virus in the Americas, researchers including members of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) network have been working on developing better diagnostic tools and on improving monitoring of the virus’ spread, in preparation for a possible outbreak in Europe and its return to the African continent where it was first isolated in the Zika Forest in Uganda in 1947. Evidence is needed on how the Zika virus affects the body, why it is spreading rapidly in the Americas, how else it can be transmitted apart from mosquito bites and whether it is linked with congenital defects in babies and nervous system diseases.

An international research team led by Prof. Eskild Petersen from Aarhus University in Denmark – executive committee member of the ECSMID Study Group and Prof. Alimuddin Zumla, University College London, UK, concluded in a review* that “molecular analyses of the virus are most urgently needed to understand whether a change in the virus can explain the rapid spread and the association with microcephaly in babies exposed to the virus during pregnancy.” Research into rapid diagnostics, treatments and vaccines are underway, the review authors said. Specific and rapid diagnostic tests for the virus will allow better surveillance and assessment of the risk for microcephaly, Guillain-Barré syndrome and other complications, Prof. Petersen explained.

ESGITM board member Dr. Nick Beeching from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine noted that Aedes mosquitoes, already responsible for huge epidemics of fevers due to dengue and chikungunya viruses in the tropics and for smaller outbreaks in Italy and France, are widespread in the tropics, so there may be potential for transmission of Zika in parts of Europe too. Whether other types of mosquito that are more common in Europe can act as vectors for Zika virus is unknown and research on this is urgently needed.

ESCMID researchers also support monitoring of the virus outbreak. The society is a partner in the PREPARE project, where researchers develop tools including clinical research protocols and case report forms, which are systematically used to collect essential data and laboratory results for clinical studies on the virus.

*ESCMID Study Group on Infections in Travellers and Migrants (ESGITM), published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.