Single-dose Zika vaccine can protect against infection

The first Zika vaccine with live virus has successfully protected mice against the infection after a just single dose, an advance that may improve the public health efforts to avoid the birth defects and diseases caused by the virus.

While a Zika infection typically results in mild or symptom-free infections in healthy adults and children, the risk of microcephaly and other diseases in the developing foetus is an alarming consequence that has created a worldwide health threat.

Pregnant women who are infected with the Zika virus but never display any disease symptoms may still give birth to a baby with microcephaly. An effective vaccine is urgently needed for women of childbearing age and travellers to areas where the virus has been reported, researchers said. (PTI)