America has TWO potential Zika vaccines ready for human trials – but officials admit they won’t be in use for ‘several years’
One of the vaccines was based on work done on the West Nile virus
Was never developed because a drug company partner could not be found
Clinical trials in people may begin by the end of this year
By Mark Prigg and Lisa Ryan
Dailymail.com
28 January 2016
The United States has two potential candidates for a vaccine for the Zika virus and may begin clinical trials in people by the end of this year, but there will not be a widely available vaccine for several years, U.S. officials have admitted .
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, said one of the vaccines was based on work done on the West Nile virus.
Fauci said that vaccine was never developed because a drug company partner could not be found, but he did not see this as an issue for Zika.
We’re already talking to a few companies who are able to partner with us in advanced development,’ he told a news conference.
Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said there have been 31 cases of Zika infection among U.S. citizens who traveled to areas affected by the virus. So far, there have been no cases of transmission of the virus through mosquitoes in the United States, she said.
In Geneva, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that Zika is spreading ‘explosively’ and could affect as many as four million people in the Americas.
It said the mosquito-borne disease had gone from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions and admitted up to four million people could be infected.
The agency will convene an emergency committee of disease experts on Monday.
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