The Unfortunate Reality Behind Zika Vaccine Testing | Pest Control in Tucson
Since the Zika virus took the world by storm near the beginning of 2015, researchers have been successful at developing a variety of different vaccines, some of which have yet to be tested on human subjects. Unfortunately, in order for researchers to accurately determine the effectiveness of the various vaccines that have been developed, they may need another epidemic.
Researches are trying to determine if the Zika outbreak will continue to infect mass amounts of people even in areas where the population has been mostly vaccinated. However, researchers cannot accurately make this determination unless they test their vaccine in regions where there is currently an active viral outbreak.
One of the most promising vaccines is made from proteins collected from the saliva of the aedes mosquito, which is the mosquito that contracts and carries the Zika virus. The proteins trigger an immune response to the mosquito’s saliva and any viruses that are contained within the saliva. If this vaccine proves successful it could be used to treat a variety of mosquito-borne diseases including Zika, dengue and chikungunya.
Do you think that it is probable that there will be another devastating outbreak of Zika? Why or why not?
