A Zika Treatment For Pregnant Women Is In The Works, And It’s Very Promising

At this point, you’ve probably heard about the terrifying brain defects linked to Zika, particularly microcephaly, which can cause babies to be born with abnormally small heads. The mosquito-borne virus currently has no treatment, but scientists have been hard at work over the last year to develop a vaccine, and now they just might be on to something. A newly identified human antibody was recently proven to have neutralized five strains of Zika after it was given to pregnant mice either one day before or one or five days following infection. The team from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville indicated that the mice had “markedly reduced” levels of the virus not only in their own systems, but also in their fetuses and placentas. While the findings (published in the journal Nature) are promising, they have yet to be tested on humans. Fingers crossed that this means we’re one step closer to protecting our future mothers.