Mosquito trap maker can’t meet demand amid Zika outbreak

June 22, 2016 by zikatruth Leave a Comment

The “enormous demand” created by the international Zika epidemic for traps used to monitor mosquitoes that carry the virus caught their German manufacturer off-guard, two company officials said Friday.

(Article by Jennifer Kay, republished from http://www.elkharttruth.com/news/national/2016/05/27/Mosquito-trap-company-surprised-by-demand-amid-Zika-outbreak.html)

According to Biogents’ only U.S. distributor, a backlog affects 1,950 traps ordered by governments and private businesses in Florida, Ohio, Kentucky and a few other states.

“Yes, unfortunately we have indeed a problem with the enormous demand of the traps due to the Zika outbreak,” Biogents board member Martin Geier confirmed in an email Friday to The Associated Press. “We are a small/medium enterprise and had to adapt our production to the market needs.”

The small company in Regensburg, Germany, typically fills a few thousand orders for these BG-Sentinel traps each year. Now it has had to ramp up production, Geier and board member Andreas Rose said in emails.

“Our stocks were sold out quicker than expected,” Rose said.

An incoming shipment should fill orders for about 1,500 of the traps by the week of June 6, according to BioQuip Products Inc., the Los Angeles-based distributor.

The black, cylindrical traps, slightly larger than ice buckets, draw Aedes aegypti and Asian tiger mosquitoes into bags by emitting a scent that mimics the odor of humans.

“The BG Sentinel trap currently is the best trap for attracting the Aedes mosquitoes. There are other traps on the market, but if you’re trying to do surveillance for Aedes, this one is specifically designed to attract them,” said Susan Weinstein, Arkansas’ public health veterinarian.

Nearly 600 travel-related Zika cases have been reported nationwide. Most people only suffer a mild and brief illness, but the virus can cause severe birth defects and neurological problems in some adults, including a rare syndrome that can be fatal or result in temporary paralysis.

Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the National Press Club on Thursday that his agency is trying to fast-track innovations to fight Zika, such as new traps that kill female mosquitoes.

“We’ve developed new traps that are effective and actually can knock down the spread of diseases spread, like Zika, by half, very simply, at a low cost,” Frieden said.

Health officials have tracked 160 travel-related Zika cases in Florida, including 37 involving pregnant women. More than half of Florida’s order for more than 300 of the BG-Sentinel traps is delayed, meaning a longer wait for areas of the state that lack this surveillance capacity.

But Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said Thursday he isn’t overly concerned by the backlog, even as other states order more of the traps. Arkansas health officials plan to order more after requesting 20 in December. In Texas, health officials said 50 are on order and they’ll likely request more.

In Florida, mosquitoes caught in the traps are sent to a state lab, newly equipped to screen for Zika, dengue and chikungunya. Florida’s broad Zika response efforts also include a hotline, strident calls from the governor to prepare for the virus as though it were an incoming hurricane, media campaigns to “drain and cover” standing water and more local enforcement of codes requiring property owners to remove containers where mosquitoes might breed.

Associated Press writers Mike Schneider in Orlando contributed to this report.

Read more at: http://www.elkharttruth.com/news/national/2016/05/27/Mosquito-trap-company-surprised-by-demand-amid-Zika-outbreak.html

Zika: the myths versus the truth

June 22, 2016 by zikatruth Leave a Comment

The Zika virus is not being spread by genetically engineered mosquitoes, nor is it transmitted through vaccines.

(Article by Meredith Cohn, republished from http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/news/current-affairs/zika-the-myths-versus-the-truth-20160601-gp9gnw)

It also is not part of a plan by pharmaceutical companies to boost sales of a future vaccine.

The rumours, conspiracy theories and myths being shared on social media and by word of mouth are seemingly as contagious as the disease.

A dad with his baby, who has microcephaly after his mother was affected by the ZIka virus. Photo: UESLEI MARCELINO

Researchers worry that such misinformation could undermine efforts to control Zika’s spread and even the public’s willingness to accept any vaccine. Public health officials are working to share accurate information about the virus and its risks with the public.

“Once people have made up their minds about something, it’s hard for them to change their opinions,” said Mark Dredze, an assistant research professor in the Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering.

In a study published recently in the journal Vaccine, Dredze, together with researchers at George Washington University and the University of Georgia, concluded that many Twitter posts on the topic were not backed by science.

Misinformation and outright conspiracy theories have abounded since the beginning of time, those who study the phenomenon say.

They are the “lifeblood of epidemics”, said Dr Howard Markel, a medical historian at the University of Michigan.

The difference now is the amplification the internet and social media offer anyone with a keyboard and connection, he said. With a growing distrust of medical studies and therapies funded by government and big corporations, Dr Markel said, even more people are doubting and filling the web with alternative theories.

Some people thought Ebola was a government plan to eliminate poor Africans, while others suggested maybe it was a medical trial gone horribly wrong.

Others thought HIV was God’s way of punishing gay people or the CIA’s way to eliminate them.

It’s not surprising that some whoppers about a scary and not-particularly understood virus called Zika are making the rounds and getting traction, Dr Markel said.

In April, health authorities officially declared the mosquito-borne Zika caused microcephaly, a severe birth defect characterised by small brains and heads that has affected the fetuses of some infected pregnant women.

In the months preceding the declaration, Dredze’s team found posts wrongly linking microcephaly to the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. That’s the vaccine often blamed for causing autism in children, despite that claim having been debunked widely by scientists.

A February survey found 19 per cent of more than 1000 Americans said they believed scientists thought microcephaly could result when pregnant women drank water containing a pesticide to stop the spread of mosquitoes. But scientists from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found this not to be true.

The survey also found 22 per cent believed scientists were blaming genetically modified mosquitoes for the Zika outbreak, and 20 per cent believed scientists blamed vaccines, though authorities say both are false.

Dr Markel agreed that the myths and conspiracies can be harmful, prompting distrust and fear of treatments and vaccines. Public health officials blamed an outbreak of measles in California among children not vaccinated on parental concerns about the vaccine.

Sometimes it’s not even a conspiracy theory, but the miscommunication of something that began with a kernel of truth, like the genetically altered mosquitoes, which public health officials say may help fight Zika.

“It’s like the old game of telephone, when by the time you pass the information from person to person, the message is very different at the end,” Markel said.

Read more at: http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/news/current-affairs/zika-the-myths-versus-the-truth-20160601-gp9gnw

The shocking truth behind Zika…

June 22, 2016 by zikatruth Leave a Comment

The rise of the Zika virus began decades ago in a jungle in Uganda.

The Zika virus outbreak has reached epidemic proportions, and threatens to impact the upcoming Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro — and the truth of how it spread may surprise you.

(Article by Dan Taylor, republished from http://www.morningticker.com/2016/06/the-shocking-truth-behind-zika/)

Although Zika seems like a recent phenomenon, it was actually discovered in 1947 in Uganda by scientists who were seeking to identify yellow fever in a rhesus monkey. A year later, the virus was recovered in a mosquito in Zika Forest, where it got its name.

The first human cases were detected in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania, and the virus later spread to Nigeria.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, Zika was detected in both mosquitoes and monkeys across the equitorial region of Africa, and it eventually spread to India and other Asian countries.

Zika broke out of Africa and Asia in 2007, reaching the Pacific island of Yap. In 2013, Zika outbreaks struck a number of Pacific islands. And in March 2015, the first Zika outbreak was reported in Brazil. Just a few months later, Brazil would declare a public health emergency.

Read more at: http://www.morningticker.com/2016/06/the-shocking-truth-behind-zika/

Préfecture plans public awareness event as Zika cases climb to 180

June 22, 2016 by zikatruth Leave a Comment

The French Institute for Public Health Surveillance INVS noted in its June 9 bulletin that St. Martin now has 180 confirmed cases, with 35 new cases reported since the last bulletin.(Article by The Daily Herald, republished from https://thedailyherald.sx/islands/58207-prefecture-plans-public-awareness-event-as-zika-cases-climb-to-180)

Included in the number are six pregnant women who are being monitored. Concerning neurological complications, only one case has been reported. The number of consultations with family doctors for suspicion of Zika continues to rise. There were 155 consultations in the first week of May.

The virus is being described as in an “active circulation phase.”

Préfète Anne Laubies, President of the Collectivité Aline Hanson, Director of the Louis-Constant Fleming Hospital Roland Toussaint and representatives from Agence Régional de Santé (ARS) are inviting the general public to an awareness session on Zika that will be held in the market area on the Marigot waterfront on Wednesday, June 22, 2016, from 8:00am onwards.

Information on preventing the spread of Zika and protecting oneself from mosquito bites will be dispensed to the public via information stands and flyers printed in English, French, and Spanish.

Guppy fish which eat the larvae of mosquitoes in cisterns will also be available for the public.

Dallas County Confirms 2 News Zika Cases, Both from Travelers

June 22, 2016 by zikatruth Leave a Comment

Dallas County Health says two more cases of Zika virus have been confirmed in the county — both imported by travelers.

(Article by NBC, republished from http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/Dallas-County-Confirms-2-News-Zika-Cases-383301901.html)

Both cases were confirmed through the testing in the DCHHS lab and are being sent to the Teas Department of State Health Services for review.

The eighth case is a 15-year-old resident of Dallas who was infected with the virus during recent travel to Honduras and El Salvador. The ninth case is a 61-year-old resident of Garland who was infected during travel to Guatemala.

For medical confidentiality and personal privacy reasons, DCHHS does not provide additional identifying information.

Common symptoms of Zika virus include fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting several days to a week.

There is no medication to treat Zika virus and there is no vaccine; the best prevention is to avoid mosquitoes and sexual contact with infected people. The recommendations for avoiding the Zika virus are the same for avoiding West Nile virus.

How to Protect Yourself from Mosquito Bites

Dress in long sleeves, pants when outside: For extra protection, spray thin clothing with repellent.
DEET: Make sure this ingredient is in your insect repellent.
Drain standing water in your yard and neighborhood: Mosquitoes can develop in any water stagnant for more than three days.

It has been recommended in the past that to avoid mosquito bites you should avoid being outdoors during Dusk and Dawn (the 4 Ds). While this is true for mosquitoes that commonly carry the West Nile virus, other types of mosquitoes that are more likely to carry Zika, dengue and chikungunya are active during the day, according to the CDC. When outdoors, adjust your dress and wear repellent containing DEET, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus as your first lines of defense against insect bites.

Read more at: http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/Dallas-County-Confirms-2-News-Zika-Cases-383301901.html

Six Cases of Zika Virus-Linked Birth Defects in US, CDC Says

June 22, 2016 by zikatruth Leave a Comment

Three babies have been born with birth defects linked to the Zika virus in the United States, and three more have been lost to miscarriages or aborted because of the birth defects, federal health officials said Thursday.

(Article by Maggie Fox, republished from http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/zika-virus-outbreak/six-cases-zika-virus-linked-birth-defects-us-cdc-says-n593866)

All of the women were infected with Zika by travel, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. But the CDC also expects localized outbreaks of Zika in the U.S. as mosquito season starts. Puerto Rico already has an epidemic and has also reported at least one Zika-associated birth defect.

“The poor birth outcomes reported include those that have been detected in infants infected with Zika before or during birth, including microcephaly, calcium deposits in the brain indicating possible brain damage, excess fluid in the brain cavities and surrounding the brain, absent or poorly formed brain structures, abnormal eye development, or other problems resulting from damage to brain that affects nerves, muscles and bones, such as clubfoot or inflexible joints,” the CDC said in a statement.

“These numbers are not real time estimates. They will reflect the outcomes of pregnancies reported with any laboratory evidence of possible Zika virus infection as of 12 noon every Thursday the week prior; numbers will be delayed one week.”

The CDC says 234 pregnant women in the United States, both residents and visitors, have been diagnosed with Zika. Another 189 cases have been reported in U.S. territories, mostly Puerto Rico.

Thursday’s six cases do not include Puerto Rico or other territories, CDC said.

“Unfortunately I think it is not surprising. I think it is consistent with what we have seen in Brazil and Colombia,” said the CDC’s Dr. Denise Jamieson, who is heading up the agency watch on Zika-affected pregnancies.

“Some, but not all, of the infants have had evidence of Zika virus infection,” Jamieson told NBC News.

“What we are reporting is moms who had laboratory evidence of Zika virus infection and the baby had birth defects consistent with Zika virus infection.”

CDC and the World Health Organization now say there is no doubt that Zika causes birth defects. They also say there’s no doubt that, like many other infections, it can cause rare neurological complications including Guillain-Barre syndrome.

“Although these outcomes occurred in pregnancies with laboratory evidence of Zika virus infection, we do not know whether they were caused by Zika virus infection or other factors,” CDC said.

And experts point out that not all birth defects are obvious when a baby is first born. based on what Zika does in a developing fetus — it seems to head straight for nerve cells — experts suspect it will also cause vision, hearing and learning problems in some affected babies.

The CDC did not identify the cases in any way but two cases of Zika-affected babies are known about: a Honduran woman who gave birth in New Jersey last month and a woman in Hawaii whose baby was born with microcephaly.

The CDC advises pregnant women, or women who might become pregnant, to stay away from areas where Zika’s spreading. And anyone in a Zika-affected area is advised to prevent mosquito bites with clothing, repellent and by staying indoors.

Because Zika can also be sexually transmitted, CDC says any man who may have been infected, even if he doesn’t have symptoms, needs to take care not to infect sexual partners who could be pregnant or become pregnant.

Read more at: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/zika-virus-outbreak/six-cases-zika-virus-linked-birth-defects-us-cdc-says-n593866

Zika virus total surpasses 100 cases in Costa Rica

June 20, 2016 by zikatruth Leave a Comment

Costa Rica’s tally of confirmed Zika cases exceeded 100 last week, according to the Health Ministry.

(Article by L. Arias, republished from http://www.ticotimes.net/2016/06/20/zika-surpasses-100-costa-rica)

The June 15 report stated there are 107 confirmed cases of Zika virus, 67 of them in the Central Pacific canton of Garabito where the popular beach destination of Jacó is located.

Of the 107 affected, 46 are men and 61 are women. Patients range from 3 to 74 years old and the average age is 17, the ministry reported. There are five pregnant women with confirmed cases of Zika but lab tests so far do not indicate the presence of microcephaly, a birth defect linked to the virus.

Health officials also confirmed 14 patients contracted the virus abroad: nine in Nicaragua, three in Colombia, one in Honduras and one in the Dominican Republic.

One woman from El Salvador gave birth here to a child with microcephaly but she contracted the virus in her home country, Health Surveillance director Daniel Peraza told reporters during a press conference Wednesday.

Thus far, the virus is concentrated in the Pacific provinces of Puntarenas and Guanacaste.

Besides cases in Garabito, the report lists nine cases in the Puntarenas canton of Parrita, eight in Nicoya, Guanacaste, four in central Puntarenas, and four in Alajuelita, south of San José.

Other mosquito-borne diseases

Cases of other mosquito-borne diseases continue to rise, according to the ministry’s report.

As of last week, health officials have recorded 7,711 confirmed cases of dengue and 1,483 cases of chikungunya.

Health officials carried out inspections at 352,835 households throughout the country during the past 22 weeks, eliminating nearly 1.5 million breeding sites of Aedes aegyptiand Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, the main carriers of Zika, dengue and chikungunya.

Dengue is now present in 90 percent of Costa Rica’s cantons, while chikungunya is present in more than half.

During the same news conference, the ministry’s vector control coordinator, Rodrigo Marín, called on the population to properly dispose of objects that can collect stagnant water and act as breeding grounds for mosquitoes, including old tires, barrels, cans, buckets and bottles.

Protection for pregnant women

Marín said the ministry will begin distributing mosquito nets, repellents and door screens for the homes of 27,000 pregnant women starting next month. He said the measure aims at reducing infection risks in pregnant women, especially those with fewer than 14 weeks of gestation.

The National Emergency Commission will help distribute the anti-mosquito gear in 31 cantons included in a health emergency decree issued in February following a spike in Zika cases.

Those cantons are:

San José: Central, Santa Ana, Desamparados, Alajuelita, Pérez Zeledón

Alajuela: Central, Atenas, Orotina

Heredia: Sarapiquí

Guanacaste: Liberia, Carrillo, Santa Cruz, Nicoya, Cañas, La Cruz, Abangares

Puntarenas: Central, Esparza, Montes de Oro, Garabito, Parrita, Quepos, Golfito, Osa, Corredores

Limón: Central, Pococí, Guácimo, Siquirres, Matina

Cartago: Turrialba

Contact L. Arias at [email protected]

Read more at: http://www.ticotimes.net/2016/06/20/zika-surpasses-100-costa-rica

The Zika Virus Poses A Threat To Everyone, Especially At The Rio Olympics

June 20, 2016 by zikatruth Leave a Comment

The Zika virus outbreak in South America has caused thousands of cases of microcephaly, where an infant is born with an unusually small head and brain. The threat is so serious that the CDC has issued a level 2 alert for anyone attending the Olympic Games in Brazil this summer. The World Health Organization has also issued travel precautions.

(Article by Steven Salzberg, republished from http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2016/06/20/the-zika-virus-poses-a-threat-to-everyone-especially-at-the-rio-olympics/#74dc8e014c7c)

Most of the attention has focused on microcephaly, understandably so, but Zika threatens more than just pregnant women. In recent months, the evidence has been building that Zika also causes Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS).

GBS is a rare but terrifying disease in which your own immune system attacks your nerve cells, leading to rapid paralysis and, in some cases, death. With the best available modern care, the death rate is about 5%, but it’s much greater when patients cannot get high-level care.

The first report of Zika as a cause of GBS appeared earlier this year in The Lancet, in a study of a 2013-14 Zika outbreak in French Polynesia (Tahiti). 42 patients were identified with Guillain-Barré syndrome (a startlingly high number for this otherwise rare disease), and 41 of them tested positive for Zika. None of those patients died, but the study provided convincing evidence that Zika was the cause of GBS.

This year, reports have emerged of a sharp increase in the number of cases of Guillain-Barré in South America, where the Zika outbreak is most severe. As the Washington Postreported back in February, the small town of Turbo, in Colombia, which normally sees at most one case per year, has already seen five cases, three of them fatal.

In response to this threat, a group of more than 200 doctors from around the world has signed an open letter to the WHO (read it here) that

call[s] for the Rio 2016 Games to be postponed and/or moved to another location—but not cancelled—in the name of public health.

The letter points out that Rio is at the epicenter of the Zika epidemic, with 32,000 cases so far, and the holding the games there–with all the associated travel involved–may accelerate the spread of the dangerous Brazilian strain.

The newly emerging risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome makes it clear that Zika virus presents a threat to everyone. The Rio Olympics are likely to make it worse. Anyone planning to visit Rio for the Games should take all the precautions they can, but the best plan might be simply to stay home.

Steven Salzberg is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, and Biostatistics at Johns Hopkins University.

Read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2016/06/20/the-zika-virus-poses-a-threat-to-everyone-especially-at-the-rio-olympics/#74dc8e014c7c

CDC: Puerto Rico could see hundreds of Zika-infected babies with microcephaly

June 20, 2016 by zikatruth Leave a Comment

The number of people infected with Zika in Puerto Rico is rising at an alarming rate, putting pregnant women at even greater risk of their babies suffering severe birth defects, a top U.S. public health official said Friday.

(Article by Lena H. Sun, republished from http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/ct-puerto-rico-zika-babies-with-microcephaly-20160620-story.html)

The latest data show that the most accurate, real-time indicator of Zika infection suggests that thousands of pregnant women there could contract the virus in the coming months. That, in turn, could lead to “dozens to hundreds of infants born with microcephaly in the coming year,” Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a media briefing.

The data come from a CDC report showing the percent of Puerto Ricans who are testing positive for Zika during blood donor screening. The numbers are the closest approximation for a representative sampling of infection rates on the island as a whole. “These numbers are increasing faster than we had anticipated,” Frieden said in a separate interview, referring to the blood-test results. He noted that Puerto Rico has not yet reached the typical peak of mosquito-fueled disease outbreaks, which occurs over the summer and into the fall.

About 1 percent of the island’s blood donors tested postive for Zika in the week ending June 11, the highest level since testing began in April, according to the agency’s report. The test measures whether someone is infected at that moment. A 1 percent positive rate translates to roughly a 2 percent infection rate each month, Frieden said — which in turn would mean an annual infection rate of about 25 percent for the commonwealth’s 3.5 million residents.

Women in Puerto Rico give birth to about 32,000 babies a year. That projected rate of Zika infection would put thousands of pregnant women at risk before they deliver, he said.

His estimate that dozens to hundreds of infants could suffer microcephaly is based on recent research from Brazil. There, doctors found that women who were infected during their first trimester faced as much as a 13 percent risk of giving birth to infants with the rare congenital condition, which is characterized by an abnormally small head and often underdeveloped brain.

Even for the thousands of other Puerto Rican infants who would escape microcephaly, there are additional concerns because “we simply don’t know if there will be long-term consequences on brain development,” Frieden said.

Blood-collection centers in Puerto Rico began screening for the virus in April, using a new, highly sensitive test, to ensure the safety of the blood supply. Public health officials say there is a strong possibility that Zika virus can be spread through blood transfusions, with at least one reported case in Brazil. On the island, donations that test positive are pulled.

No Zika transmission through blood transfusions have been confirmed in the United States, but the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center in the Houston area also began testing for the virus this spring. The center has tested over 9,000 donations with no positives, CDC officials said. Other blood centers along the Gulf Coast, which is considered at the highest risk for Zika, are expected to soon start similar screening on their own initiative.

Matthew Kuehnert, CDC’s director of blood and organ safety, said Friday that no blood collected in the continental United States has tested positive for Zika. In February, the Food and Drug Administration said anyone infected by — or even potentially exposed to — the virus should wait at least four weeks before donating blood. The agency said that included individuals with recent travel to Zika-affected regions, those with symptoms suggestive of a Zika infection in the past month and those who have had sex with a person who’d traveled to or lived in Zika-affected areas in the previous three months.

In areas of active Zika virus transmission — which includes U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa — blood used for transfusions should be obtained from areas of the country where the virus isn’t present unless locally collected donations are being screened.

Puerto Rico has 1,726 confirmed Zika cases, which include 191 pregnant women, according to its health department. Only one case of microcephaly has been reported there to date. (In the continental United States, which has far fewer Zika cases, at least six pregnancies involving infected women have been affected by microcephaly or other serious birth defects.)

Frieden said officials and the community can take measures to reduce the risk of mosquito exposure.

“I want to try and make sure all of us involved in the response don’t get to a situation three, six or 12 months later where we look back and say we wish we had done more back in June,” Frieden said. Even if officials are able to reduce the number of infections by 10 to 30 percent, “every one of those infections is a tragedy prevented.”

Scientists have concluded that the mosquito-borne virus that has spread to more than 40 countries, mostly in South America and the Caribbean, and that it causes microcephaly as well as an array of other neurological problems.

Read more at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/ct-puerto-rico-zika-babies-with-microcephaly-20160620-story.html

First Zika vaccine to be tested in Humans

June 20, 2016 by zikatruth Leave a Comment

The first human trial of a Zika vaccine will begin soon, Inovio Pharmaceuticals said Monday.

(Article by Jen Christensen, republished from http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/20/health/zika-vaccine-human-testing/index.html)

Inovio, which is based in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, and GeneOne Life Science, which is based in Seoul, South Korea, worked together on the vaccine. They previously collaborated to create vaccines for Ebolaand MERS, both of which are being tested.

The Zika vaccine, with the clinical-sounding name GLS-5700, will first be tested in 40 healthy volunteers. The first tests in humans should start in the next few weeks, Inovio said in a news release.

In the animal testing stage, the vaccine caused a strong antibody response, the company said.

It is still very early in the vaccine’s development. Phase I of a vaccine trial ensures that it can be tolerated well in human subjects.

If successful in this first round of human testing, it will need additional approval for further testing.

At the next stage, the vaccine would be tested on people who have Zika. Then there would be a stage to see how well it works on a larger group of people.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease at the National Institutes of Health, is leading a team that is trying a few approaches to a vaccine, including an approach using DNA like Inovio’s does. He believes that trial could start by the end of August.

In the coming months, he said, we will probably be hearing about a number of vaccine candidates going into Phase I trials.

“This is all good news,” Fauci said.

Until recently, Zika had been considered a rare and relatively benign virus (PDF). Currently, there is no vaccine approved to fight it, but about 20 companies have been racing to develop one, according to a World Health Organization representative.

A vaccine could still be far away. This year, the World Health Organization said that large-scale trials for any of the vaccines in development probably won’t be able to start for at least 18 months. “Several years may be needed before a fully tested and licensed vaccine is ready for use,” said Nyka Alexander, a media officer from the World Health Organization.

The virus has been “spreading explosively,” according to the WHO, as the agency declared it a public health emergency. The agency predicts there will be 3 million to 4 million new infections in the Americas this year alone.

The Zika virus, transmitted by the aggressive Aedes aegypti mosquito, has spread to at least 50 countries and territories.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned pregnant women not to travel to those areas, and health leaders in those countries have advised women not to get pregnant. The virus is connected to a neurological birth disorder,microcephaly.

In addition to avoiding travel to countries with the virus, the only other available protection is to use anEnvironmental Protection Agency-approved mosquito repellent. The CDC also said that wearing long pants and long-sleeve shirts thick enough to block a mosquito bite can help, as can sleeping in air-conditioned rooms with screens to keep bugs out.

Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/20/health/zika-vaccine-human-testing/index.html