Researchers Have Finally Developed A Zika Vaccine
Researchers Have Finally Developed A Zika Vaccine
It may sound too good to be true, but researchers have recently developed a vaccine to fight the Zika virus. This vaccine is the first to effectively cure a person of the Zika virus. Obviously Zika is not as devastating this year as it was last year in 2016, but a working vaccine will still come in handy in the future. Since the researchers with Penn state only recently published the study detailing the vaccines effectiveness at fighting Zika, the Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve of its use for the general population. For now, people should focus solely on preventing Zika, as the vaccine will probably not become legal to use for a while.
Volunteers in a clinical trial demonstrated that the new vaccine is both safe and effective. The vaccine has been referred to as GLS-5700. Volunteers who were administered the GLS-5700 vaccine developed Zika-specific antibodies, and only slight side effects were reported. Researchers are excited to begin new clinical trials, and it looks like the ball is finally rolling when it comes to curing Zika infected individuals of the virus. The point at which the vaccine can be administered to the general public is hard to tell at this point. Government approval of the vaccine could occur soon or several years from now. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine earlier this month and the vaccines development came as a combined effort between the Perelman School of Medicine, the Wistar Institute, Inovio Pharmaceuticals and GeneOne Life Science, Inc.
The new vaccine uses synthetic DNA in order to attack a specific Zika antigen. The use of synthetic DNA is not yet common and researchers believe that it could become the norm for developing therapeutic methods of disease treatment in the future. According to Pablo Tebas, a professor of Infectious Diseases at Penn, synthetic DNA may be used exclusively in order to develop safe and effective vaccines in the years to come.
Do you believe that synthetic DNA could lead to a vaccine for the West nile virus within the next decade?
