Dengue is a well-known virus that continues to see higher
numbers of cases as time progresses, however the newly emerging Zika virus may
actually share many similarities with Dengue.
In terms of viral research this relationship could provide
valuable opportunities to establish breakthroughs in the treatment or management
of the emerging Zika virus. Both of
these viruses are transmitted through the use of a vector, in both cases it is
the same mosquito species, which gives rise to many issues when attempting to
control the virus. One of the more
recent establishments in studying Zika came from comparing the host cell
infection process with that of Dengue, which utilizes and interesting function
termed antibody-dependent enhancement.
This process is defined as a failure of the immune system to correctly
identify the different strains of virus that infect the host based upon the
proceeding antibody to antigen relationship.
This results in a variability in virulence when infected with Dengue,
with the first instance of infection being mild, but with the second instance being
of a new strain the virulence increased to about 10%. This mechanism was then applied to Zika with
the goal of perhaps establishing some form of a protective measure as the
antibodies of Zika and Dengue are nearly indistinguishable even when specifically
tested for their antibodies. The result of the research was variable, however researchers concluded that being
previously infected with Dengue could perhaps protect against Zika infection depending
on whether or not the immune system has an appropriate antibody response.
-Ethan Wentworth
No comments:
Post a Comment