Pubic Health England (PHE) reported the news that there has been a first suspected case in the UK of sexual transmission of Zika from a partner who had recently visited a country with active ZIka transmission. read more

Using samples from patients previously infected with the Zika virus, a group of scientists writing in the journal Nature have reported the identification of antibodies which were able to mitigate the effect of infection in pregnant and non-pregnant mice. read more

Researchers publishing in the journal Nature have looked at the effects of Zika virus infection in mice and report that infection with certain strains was associated with damage to the testes of male mice, cell death and lower testosterone levels. read more

A group of researchers publishing in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal have applied modelling methods to examine the potential areas for future Zika virus outbreaks, based on air travel patterns from virus-affected areas and locations of the mosquito vector. They reported which countries in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region are vulnerable to the virus. read more

The Zika virus is known to negatively impact the growth of fetal brains and a group of researchers publishing in the journal Cell Stem Cell have investigated the effect of Zika on the adult brain reporting that infection can lead to cell death and reduced proliferation. read more

A research article published in the journal Science has reported the efficacy of three different vaccine platforms against the Zika virus in rhesus macaque monkeys. read more

Oxitec Ltd, the company that developed a self-limited genetically engineered mosquito, has been working with health authorities in Piracicaba, Brazil, in attempt to reduce the population of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the species that transmits diseases including dengue, chikungunya and Zika. Dengue has been the main mosquito-transmitted disease affecting Piracicaba. Oxitec’s Head of Field Operations, Dr Andrew McKemey, and Dr Pedro Mello, the Secretary of Health for Piracicaba in Brazil, will be in the UK next week and are available to answer any questions you might have about the science behind the GM mosquito, what stage their current mosquito release programme is at, and what the situation is in Piracicaba. Piracicaba City Hall partnered with Oxitec in March 2015 to use the mosquitoes and that programme is now being extended to a larger area of the city. read more

A group of researchers publishing in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine have used a modelling study to estimate the risk of Zika infection to those traveling to the Olympics in Brazil and suggest the number of infected travelers returning to all countries to be between 3 and 37. read more

The ongoing Zika outbreak in the Americas is the subject of a paper published in the journal Nature Microbiology which estimates the number of people, women of childbearing age, and pregnancies which may be affected by the epidemic. read more

The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil, will begin in early August. The Zika virus outbreak is ongoing in some parts of Brazil (among other countries in the Americas and the Pacific). read more

A study published in Nature reported the results of trials of two potential vaccines against the Zika virus in mice. read more

The golfer Rory McIlroy has pulled out of the Olympics in Brazil because of concerns around the adverse health impacts of the ongoing Zika outbreak. read more

A number of scientists have said that, with the ongoing Zika virus outbreak in Brazil, the upcoming Olympic Games should be moved to another venue however the World Health Organization has rebutted the suggestion. read more

The Zika virus strain responsible for the outbreaks in Brazil has been detected in Cape Verde in Africa. read more

The World Health Organization has assessed the risk of a Zika virus outbreak in Europe this summer as low to moderate. read more

The Zika virus is still spreading through the Americas with information on its effects emerging, and a paper published in the journal Nature has reported experimental evidence for the first time that it can cause signs of microcephaly in mice. read more

The current outbreak of Zika infection in South and Central America is the focus of much research and a paper published in the journal Science has attempted to work out when Zika virus first arrived in Brazil. The research team report that the first human infection with Zika was detected in November 2015 and that introduction to Brazil probably occurred between May-December 2013. read more

A group of scientists have published their work in The Lancet journal in which they retrospectively analysed data from a previous Zika outbreak in French Polynesia. In their follow up modelling study they reported Zika virus infection during the first trimester of pregnancy led to higher than expected rates of microcephaly. The association between Zika virus infection and microcephaly, however, has not been precisely quantified. read more

Publishing in The Lancet journal a group of researchers have analysed data from a previous outbreak of Zika virus in French Polynesia and report that of 42 patients diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome at the time, all showed signs of an immune response against Zika whereas only half of those in a control group did. read more

Publishing in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface a group of scientists have used a model to analyse the use of personal protection techniques, such as netting and insect repellents, for the avoidance of diseases spread by carriers like mosquitoes. From this model they suggested some circumstances under which such devices might increase disease in the unprotected portion of the population. read more