Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Seattle scientists first to show monkey model of Zika damage
Originally published September 12, 2016 at 8:00 am Updated September 12, 2016 at 8:24 am
Seattle researchers infected a pregnant, 9-year-old macaque monkey with Zika virus, becoming the first to demonstrate the terrible effects of the disease in the fetus of a nonhuman primate. The work is meant to put researchers on the path to testing possible therapies.
JoNel AlecciaBy
Seattle Times health reporter
...
Researchers with the University of Washington Center for Innate Immunity and Immune Disease on Monday reported the first case of Zika-caused brain damage in the fetus of a nonhuman primate: a single pigtail macaque.
...
?It?s the final, definitive proof that Zika causes fetal brain injury,? said Adams Waldorf, an obstetrician who has studied infections in pregnancy for 15 years. ?It removes any lingering doubt.?
...
The new study also shows that any therapy for Zika will have to focus on preventing infection, Adams Waldorf said. The damage to the fetus occurred so quickly after infection, within days, that there?s no window for intervention after the fact.
?It?s going to have to be a vaccine or a prophylactic,? she said.
...
For Adams Waldorf, who has been warning her pregnant patients about Zika for months, the experiment?s success only underscored her concerns.
?I had some insider knowledge that Zika virus can, so to speak, liquefy the fetal brain,? she said.
...
?U.S. citizens are not getting the message,? Adams Waldorf said. ?They don?t know how dangerous the epidemic is.?
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...ts-first-to-show-monkey-model-of-zika-damage/
Originally published September 12, 2016 at 8:00 am Updated September 12, 2016 at 8:24 am
Seattle researchers infected a pregnant, 9-year-old macaque monkey with Zika virus, becoming the first to demonstrate the terrible effects of the disease in the fetus of a nonhuman primate. The work is meant to put researchers on the path to testing possible therapies.
JoNel AlecciaBy
Seattle Times health reporter
...
Researchers with the University of Washington Center for Innate Immunity and Immune Disease on Monday reported the first case of Zika-caused brain damage in the fetus of a nonhuman primate: a single pigtail macaque.
...
?It?s the final, definitive proof that Zika causes fetal brain injury,? said Adams Waldorf, an obstetrician who has studied infections in pregnancy for 15 years. ?It removes any lingering doubt.?
...
The new study also shows that any therapy for Zika will have to focus on preventing infection, Adams Waldorf said. The damage to the fetus occurred so quickly after infection, within days, that there?s no window for intervention after the fact.
?It?s going to have to be a vaccine or a prophylactic,? she said.
...
For Adams Waldorf, who has been warning her pregnant patients about Zika for months, the experiment?s success only underscored her concerns.
?I had some insider knowledge that Zika virus can, so to speak, liquefy the fetal brain,? she said.
...
?U.S. citizens are not getting the message,? Adams Waldorf said. ?They don?t know how dangerous the epidemic is.?
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...ts-first-to-show-monkey-model-of-zika-damage/