Disease

cidrap.umn.edu - by Lisa Schnirring  - September 2, 2016

WHO panel cites virus spread, research gaps
CLICK HERE - WHO - Fourth meeting of the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (2005) regarding microcephaly, other neurological disorders and Zika virus 

CDC funds for microcephaly, birth defects
CLICK HERE - CDC awards $2.4 million to five jurisdictions to fight Zika

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that its Zika emergency committee, which met yesterday, has recommended keeping the public health emergency in place, as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced $2.4 million in funding to help five of the nation's most populated cities detect and manage Zika-related birth defects.

CDC-Colombia effort, Singapore cases, brain cell infection
In other new Zika developments, the CDC announced a formal research collaboration with Colombia, Singapore reported more Zika cases, and researchers revealed possible differences in brain cell infections between the two Zika lineages.

submitted by Albert Gomez

Doctoral students Emily Lee, Yichen Cheng and Sarah Ogden played a key role in conducting Zika research in Professor Hengli Tang’s laboratory.

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH - Nature Medicine - Identification of small-molecule inhibitors of Zika virus infection and induced neural cell death via a drug repurposing screen

news.fsu.edu - by Kathleen Haughney - August 29, 2016

A team of researchers from Florida State University, Johns Hopkins University and the National Institutes of Health has found existing drug compounds that can both stop Zika from replicating in the body and from damaging the crucial fetal brain cells that lead to birth defects in newborns.

One of the drugs is already on the market as a treatment for tapeworm. . . .

. . . Their work is outlined in an article published Monday by Nature Medicine.

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Dr. Angela Rocha shows brain scans of a baby born with microcephaly at the Oswaldo Cruz Hospital in Recife, Brazil.  FELIPE DANA/AP

CLICK HERE - NEJM - Prolonged Shedding of Zika Virus Associated with Congenital Infection

CLICK HERE - Radiology - Congenital Brain Abnormalities and Zika Virus: What the Radiologist Can Expect to See Prenatally and Postnatally

statnews.com - by Helen Branswell - August 24, 2016

A new report from Brazil raises questions about whether the Zika virus can continue to damage an infected infant’s brain after birth.

An infant in Sao Paulo whose mother was infected late in her second trimester was born without any visible birth defects. But testing showed the baby had the Zika virus in his blood; the virus remained in his system for at least a couple of months.

At six months, it became apparent that the child had suffered Zika-related brain damage.

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Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters

CLICK HERE - RESEARCH - Zika Virus Infects Neural Progenitors in the Adult Mouse Brain and Alters Proliferation

New research has found evidence the mosquito-borne virus can adversely affect cells necessary for replenishing damaged neurons.

theatlantic.com - by Marina Koren - August 19, 2016

Zika is understood to pose the greatest threat to pregnant women and their fetuses, which can be born with severe brain defects if infected with the mosquito-borne virus. But new research suggests Zika may damage adult brains, too, giving scientists another thread to follow in their attempts to understand the virus as the number of infections continues to rise in South America, the Caribbean, and elsewhere.

U.S. researchers have found evidence that a certain kind of brain cell present in newborns that remains in some amounts in adulthood can be susceptible to Zika infection, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

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