The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Anthony Fauci, has communicated that the first human trials for the Zika virus vaccine will begin in 2017 but it is likely that it will take a couple of years – or a little longer. – to know with certainty if it is effective and if it can be used massively among the population.
“By early 2017 we will know if it is safe for humans, but it will take two or three years to carry out efficacy studies in Latin America,” Fauci said.
According to the expert, the mosquito that transmits the virus, Aedes aegypti (which also spreads dengue and chikungunya), is quite elusive so it will take “an aggressive effort” to eliminate it. Since it is difficult to accelerate the development of a vaccine, Facui recalled that the infection is especially harmful to fetuses if it affects pregnant women but, for the moment, the short-term objective is to stop the spread of the main mosquito that transmits the disease that, in addition, it has a certain predilection for attacking human beings and is capable of living both indoors and outdoors.
About 500 million people in the Americas are at risk of getting the Zika virus, according to the NIAID. Symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes . As there are no drugs against the virus, it is expected that this future vaccine will control the risk among the Latin American population.
