tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Scientists undertaking two different studies on mice have learned more about how the Zika virus could effect the fetuses of pregnant women.
The studies, published in the journals Cell and Nature, are the result of research designed to help develop vaccines for the virus. The virus has only a mild effect on adult humans, but can be devastating to unborn children whose mothers are infected.
Both studies looked at how the virus is transmitted from mother to child through the placenta, an organ that nourishes the fetus before the baby is born. While the placenta is usually resistant to infection, scientists found that the Zika virus was able to penetrate the mouse placenta and flourish inside it.
The levels of Zika virus in mouse placentas were 1,000 times greater than in the blood of the pregnant mice carrying them.
http://www.leedstimes.com/index.php/sid/243998307
The studies, published in the journals Cell and Nature, are the result of research designed to help develop vaccines for the virus. The virus has only a mild effect on adult humans, but can be devastating to unborn children whose mothers are infected.
Both studies looked at how the virus is transmitted from mother to child through the placenta, an organ that nourishes the fetus before the baby is born. While the placenta is usually resistant to infection, scientists found that the Zika virus was able to penetrate the mouse placenta and flourish inside it.
The levels of Zika virus in mouse placentas were 1,000 times greater than in the blood of the pregnant mice carrying them.
http://www.leedstimes.com/index.php/sid/243998307