President Obama called for urgent action against the Zika virus this week. Meanwhile, one Brazilian virologist at the University of Connecticut has been hard at work in the development of a vaccine.
The Zika virus, which is mosquito borne and is being linked with severe birth defects, has been rapidly spreading throughout the Americas. UConn pathobiologist Paulo Verardi has been keeping a close eye on the virus for the past few months.
"Luckily this virus is similar to dengue virus," Verardi said -- it's a virus they know quite a bit more about. "In fact, it belongs to the same family. But we will need to learn a lot more about the virus. So, there will need to be a lot of basic research that is not necessarily vaccine research, but just studying the basic biology of the virus."
It would normally take at least ten years to develop a vaccine, Verardi said. But he's hopeful it will go quicker since President Barack Obama and the National Institutes of Health have made the Zika virus a high priority. Verardi's in the process of working on a vaccine candidate that could be ready for testing soon. But he cautions there's still a long road ahead.
"I would say that we are most likely going to be able to produce a vaccine that's going to be effective in this case," Verardi said. "And that's because -- at least at this point -- it seems that the virus is not highly variable like HIV. Because the problem with HIV is that there are so many different versions or variants of the virus. So, that will make a pathway to a vaccine much, much easier."
In terms of travel, if you're pregnant or planning to become pregnant, Verardi said he would avoid visiting affected areas, for now.
