Zika virus infection confers protection against future infection in monkeys, but lingers in the body of pregnant animals for prolonged periods of time, according to research funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The findings appear in the June 28 issue of Nature Communications.
The research team was led by University of Wisconsin-Madison pathology professor David O'Connor. The scientists infected eight rhesus macaque monkeys with the Zika virus strain responsible for the current outbreak in the Americas. Non-pregnant monkeys cleared the virus from their blood approximately 10 days after infection, which is similar to what is seen in humans with Zika virus and other flaviviruses. In the two pregnant monkeys, however, Zika virus persisted in the blood for at least 57 days. The team then re-infected three of the non-pregnant monkeys with the same virus strain 10 weeks later and found they all were protected against infection.
The results indicate that natural immunity may be sufficient to protect against future Zika infections in humans, and a vaccine that can mimic this immunity would likely be safe and provide similar protection, the authors write. The research team will continue to follow the pregnant monkeys to learn why the virus lingers in the body, and how this persistent infection relates to any potential fetal malformations or birth defects.
###
ARTICLE:
D Dudley et al. A rhesus macaque model of Asian-lineage Zika virus infection. Nature Communications DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12204 (2016).
WHO:
NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., and Cristina Cassetti, Ph.D., Translational Research Program Director, Virology Branch of NIAID's Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, are available for comment.
CONTACT:
To schedule interviews, please contact Jennifer Routh, (301) 402-1663, jennifer.routh@nih.gov.
NIAID conducts and supports research--at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide--to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health®
Journal
Nature Communications