The study known as a “controlled human infection model” has previously been controversial for Zika because of the risks to participants and lack of treatments.
Lara, wh was born with microcephaly in 2016, is examined in hospital at Campina Grande in Paraiba state, Brazil. The country’s impoverished north-east was ground zero for the Zika epidemic.But US regulators and the World Health Organisation ruled the new model, developed by a team at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, was safe and scientifically important.
The Aedes aegypti mosquito was behind the large outbreaks of Zika virus which started in Latin America and the Caribbean and spread to the US, Asia and other regions in 2016.But the WHO has warned that surveillance can be patchy, and transmission patterns for Zika are not well understood. Climate change is also likely to boost the mosquito population and hence the spread, which is already established in 91 countries.
To minimise the risks, the patients were admitted to an inpatient unit and monitored until they were free of the virus. They agreed to use birth control methods for two months.