First live-attenuated Zika vaccine induces protective immunity in mice

The first live-attenuated Zika vaccine has been demonstrated to induce protective immunity in mice after a single dose, according to a study by the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (TX, USA) and Instituto Evandro Chagas (Belém, Brazil). Developing an effective vaccine against Zika virus (ZIKV) has been a top priority in order to protect women of childbearing age and prevent the congenital complications associated with Zika. Progress been made in subunit and inactivated vaccines, which have been demonstrated to be effective in mice and nonhuman primates. However, in this study, published recently in Nature Medicine, the team chose...