The Scientific Response to Zika Virus - PubMed (original) (raw)

The Scientific Response to Zika Virus

Miguel A Martín-Acebes et al. J Clin Med. 2019.

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne pathogen that became renowned in 2015 in Brazil mainly due to its association with microcephaly in newborns. Although most infections in adults are asymptomatic or cause mild illnesses, in a reduced number of cases, ZIKV can also produce severe complications that include neurological disorders (Guillain⁻Barré syndrome), ocular lesions, or reproductive alterations. From 2015 the efforts of a significant part of the scientific community were placed on ZIKV research, which has resulted in an unpredicted escalation of the knowledge of the biology and pathology of this virus. The rapid response of the scientific community against ZIKV highlights its enormous potential to counter attack a viral threat within a short time period. It is expected that this huge collaborative effort will produce affordable and effective prophylactic and therapeutic tools against ZIKV. Nevertheless, there are still other arboviral threats different from ZIKV that should not be forgotten.

Keywords: Zika virus; antiviral; epidemics; scientific literature; vaccines.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Impact of Zika virus (ZIKV) on scientific literature. (A) The graph displays the number of search results for Zika virus or ZIKV retrieved from PubMed using the “Results by year” tool. For comparison, similar searches were performed for the other flaviviruses displayed. Data corresponds to searches performed on 30 January 2019. (B) Increase in research interests after different outbreaks or epidemics of selected human pathogens. The number of search results 6 years before each outbreak and 3–6 years after is compared. The outbreaks of ZIKV in 2015 in South America, West Nile virus (WNV) in 1999 in North America, Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) in 2004–2005 in the southwestern Indian Ocean region, India, and Southeast Asia, and Ebola virus (EBOV) in 2014 in Western Africa were analyzed. Searches were performed as described in A. Data corresponds to searches performed on 30 January 2019.

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