Clinical Research To Fight Zika Virus - ACRI India
Zika fever is a mosquito-borne disease that typically causes asymptomatic or mild infection like fever and rash in humans. It is transmitted to people through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito. This is the same mosquito that transmits dangerous diseases like dengue, yellow fever, and chikungunya. There are a number of people who have been infected with the Zika virus in India, with the first case being reported on September 23 last year, increasing to almost a century by the end of October. Many cases being reported were those of pregnant women, which is the most risky scenario, because Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause infants to be born with microcephaly and other congenital malformations, known as congenital Zika syndrome. These conditions can cause infants to be born with a very small head, which may lead to brain damage. In fact, Zika virus in pregnant women can cause complications like premature birth or miscarriage too.
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Clinical research to fight Zika virus
Looking at this scenario, it has been determined that clinical research be conducted for preventing the spread of the Zika virus. For this, a potent Zika virus neutralizing antibody will have to be produced. In fact, such an antibody that neutralizes Zika virus was discovered three years ago too. The antibody, named as ZIKV-117, bound to a part of the Zika virus in a way that no other antibody has till date. However, producing such an antibody was found to be very expensive, which is why the new solution of today seems to be very important to the anti-Zika antibody project. It is expected that this new research will be a very promising Zika antibody therapy that will be one step closer to the success of fighting the disease.
Countries affected
India is not the only country that has found to be infected by the Zika virus. Outbreaks of Zika virus have been recorded in other countries of Asia too, along with Africa, America, and the Pacific. It all began in the 1960s, where Asia and Africa reported rare sporadic cases of human infections, accompanied by mild illness. Then, the first recorded outbreak of the Zika virus disease was reported from the Island of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia in 2007. This was followed by a huge outbreak in French Polynesia in 2013, which then moved on to many other countries in the Pacific; and now it has reached India!
With hundreds of people being affected by the Zika virus in India, it becomes very important to find a treatment. Although clinical research and trials can take years to be approved (), we can at least start finding a solution to help prevent the disease in the future, and help our upcoming children to stay protected against it.
You can also join the clinical research club by enrolling at a clinical research virtual learning center Bangalore, like Avigna Clinical Research Institute, where you can be trained by experienced mentors upon every critical aspect of clinical research so that you can build up a successful career in leading CROs, Bio-techs, and pharmaceutical companies both in India and abroad.
