PNAS: Key mutations in the Zika virus promote its spread.

March 20, 2020 /--- -- A team of researchers from the University of Texas at Galveston recently discovered a mutation in the Zika virus that may be linked to the outbreak of the virus in 2015/2016 and the infection of microcephaly (baby microcephaly) in pregnant women.
study is currently published in the journal PNAS.
zika virus caused a global epidemic in 2015 and 2016.
virus, like West Nile, dengue, yellow fever and chikungi, is mainly transmitted by mosquitoes.
these viruses continue to threaten people living in specific areas.
dengue virus alone infects 390 million people each year.
because these viruses spread between mosquitoes and animals/humans, they are prone to genetic mutations that make them highly capable of appearing and causing epidemics.
(Photo: www.pixabay.com) In this study, researchers identified mutations in Zika's envelope protein that increase mother-to-child transmission in pregnant mice, increase neurological disease and mortality in newborn mice, and increase the level of viruses in the blood of infected non-human primates.
when mosquitoes bite the Zika virus, elevated levels of the virus in the blood increase the likelihood that the virus will spread to mosquitoes, thus facilitating the spread of the virus in cities between mosquitoes and humans. "Our study shows that the Zika virus envelope mutation V473M, which occurred just before the 2015 epidemic in the Americas, enhances the assembly of Zika virus particles in infected cells," said
study author Peiyong Shi, a professor of human genetics.
increased viral assembly has led to increased human disease and transmission between pregnant women.
genetic changes in the virus and poor host immunity may have been the cause of Zika and severe diseases in 2015 and 2016.
"" has more than 500 known insect-borne viruses, 100 of which cause human diseases.
because insect-borne virus polymerases, an enzyme responsible for amplifying the genetic footprint of viruses, lack the ability to proofread, these viruses are prone to high mutation frequency.
, these viruses often reappear and reappear.
"RNA viruses are the most common pathogens that cause outbreaks and epidemics, including Ebola and SARS-CoV-2," he said.
understanding of the mechanisms by which viruses appear and spread is critical to detecting and responding to future outbreaks.
the world's current focus on COVID-19, I am confident that COVID-19 will not be the last new virus we face.
public health capacity and countermeasures are the only effective means of overcoming these threats.
(bioon.com) Source: Researchers opened the Zika virus mutation responsible for quick spread, birth defects Original source: Chao Shan el al., "A Zika virus virus system system source the 2015 Zika virus virus system virulence and fitness for transmission," PNAS (2020).