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Zika can also be linked to injuries in the adult brain
TECHNOLOGY -02/29/2016 15h52
S?o Paulo - In addition to lesions in the brains of babies, the zika virus may also be causing problems in the adult brain.
It's what distrusts a group of Rio scientists, who began a research project earlier this week to investigate cases of encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and encephalitis (inflammation also in the spinal cord) that are coming to government hospitals in patients who also reported symptoms of zika.
The cases being investigated draw attention before a revelation last week when it was reported sequencing the genome zika that the virus has genetic proximity to the Japanese encephalitis virus.
The disease causes brain inflammation and transmission involves Culex mosquitoes.
The data can be useful for scientists to better understand the biology of zika. Work on the River, coordinated by researchers from D Institute? Or Research and Higher Education (er) and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), aims to verifying that the relationship between the virus and the problems being reported.
For this, we must first of all have confirmation of infection, establish the chronology of events and research for brain imaging what is actually happening with these people. "We have no epidemiological data, but the impression is that there was an increase encephalitis and myelitis reports in recent months. These are cases of involvement of the marrow and adult brain.
We have been working with the possibility of zika cause neurological problems that are reactive, which is the case of Guillain-Barr? syndrome (immune system reaction to infection).
But you may also generate direct problems, "says Fernanda Tovar Moll, scientific director of er and professor at UFRJ. Specialist in neuroimaging, she is doing the analysis of MRI in these patients. The goal, he says, is to check the brain regions and spinal cord that may have been altered.
"It's like making a mapping work of the most affected areas." Genome According to Renato Aguiar, the Adolfo Lutz Institute researcher who participated in the sequencing, published in the Lancet last week, the discovery could help investigate whether zika can be transmitted by other vectors besides Aedes aegypti.
"Because they have common origins, the two viruses have common biological characteristics. But the virus associated with the branch of the Japanese encephalitis is transmitted by Culex and not by Aedes. As we now know the phylogenetic position of zika, we can investigate clues about their behavior and possible vectors "said Aguiar. According to M?rcio Nunes, the Evandro Chagas Institute, who also made complete sequencing of zika genome, the fact that the Japanese encephalitis virus cause changes in the nervous system may be useful for scientists to seek biological markers of virulence - i.e., elements that explain why in some cases the infection can lead to the microcephaly.
"In the case of Japanese encephalitis, these markers are very well described. This prior knowledge can serve as a basis for us to get the markers in the case of zika." The information is the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.
http://jornalfloripa.com.br/noticia.php?id=2321594
Zika can also be linked to injuries in the adult brain
TECHNOLOGY -02/29/2016 15h52
S?o Paulo - In addition to lesions in the brains of babies, the zika virus may also be causing problems in the adult brain.
It's what distrusts a group of Rio scientists, who began a research project earlier this week to investigate cases of encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and encephalitis (inflammation also in the spinal cord) that are coming to government hospitals in patients who also reported symptoms of zika.
The cases being investigated draw attention before a revelation last week when it was reported sequencing the genome zika that the virus has genetic proximity to the Japanese encephalitis virus.
The disease causes brain inflammation and transmission involves Culex mosquitoes.
The data can be useful for scientists to better understand the biology of zika. Work on the River, coordinated by researchers from D Institute? Or Research and Higher Education (er) and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), aims to verifying that the relationship between the virus and the problems being reported.
For this, we must first of all have confirmation of infection, establish the chronology of events and research for brain imaging what is actually happening with these people. "We have no epidemiological data, but the impression is that there was an increase encephalitis and myelitis reports in recent months. These are cases of involvement of the marrow and adult brain.
We have been working with the possibility of zika cause neurological problems that are reactive, which is the case of Guillain-Barr? syndrome (immune system reaction to infection).
But you may also generate direct problems, "says Fernanda Tovar Moll, scientific director of er and professor at UFRJ. Specialist in neuroimaging, she is doing the analysis of MRI in these patients. The goal, he says, is to check the brain regions and spinal cord that may have been altered.
"It's like making a mapping work of the most affected areas." Genome According to Renato Aguiar, the Adolfo Lutz Institute researcher who participated in the sequencing, published in the Lancet last week, the discovery could help investigate whether zika can be transmitted by other vectors besides Aedes aegypti.
"Because they have common origins, the two viruses have common biological characteristics. But the virus associated with the branch of the Japanese encephalitis is transmitted by Culex and not by Aedes. As we now know the phylogenetic position of zika, we can investigate clues about their behavior and possible vectors "said Aguiar. According to M?rcio Nunes, the Evandro Chagas Institute, who also made complete sequencing of zika genome, the fact that the Japanese encephalitis virus cause changes in the nervous system may be useful for scientists to seek biological markers of virulence - i.e., elements that explain why in some cases the infection can lead to the microcephaly.
"In the case of Japanese encephalitis, these markers are very well described. This prior knowledge can serve as a basis for us to get the markers in the case of zika." The information is the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.
http://jornalfloripa.com.br/noticia.php?id=2321594