Study Reveals Single Mutation Makes Zika Virus More Dangerous

KOMPAS.com – Laboratory experiments have identified that a single mutation can make a virus Zika brought mosquito become much more infectious and lethal.

Virus Zika usually causes several symptoms in adults that can interfere with their health. Even if infection occurs during pregnancy, the effects can be dangerous.

Because the baby in the womb can be affected by microcephaly. This condition makes babies born to have small heads and sometimes brain damage.

An outbreak in late 2015 was associated with microcephaly and occurred in more than 30 countries.

Read also: Zika Virus Could Be Key to Brain Cancer Treatment

As quoted from New ScientistWednesday (13/4/2022) to find out how virus Zika can mutate in the future, Sujan Shresta from La Jolla Institute for Immunology in California also conducted a series of studies.

He and his colleagues mimicked the viral infection cycle by repeatedly replacing the virus in mosquito and mouse cells.

Researchers also wanted to see if the virus evolved differently in mice that had previously been exposed to the dengue virus, the cause of dengue fever.

The Zika virus is common in countries where the dengue virus is also common. This may be because both viruses are spread by the same type of mosquito and both are part of the flavivirus family.

“People who get dengue fever have short-term protection against Zika,” Shresta said.

The results of the study found that the same mutated form of Zika virus developed in mouse cells that had been exposed to the dengue virus and those that were not.

The team then infected several pregnant mice with the mutant virus. Researchers found that the virus was more contagious and more virulent.

This means that the virus has a greater chance of crossing the placenta and infecting the fetus.

Furthermore, the research team also infected human fetal cells in the laboratory. As a result, they found that the mutant virus could replicate more easily than the original virus.

Read also: Preliminary Study: Children Who Have Been Infected With DHF Protected From Zika

–