Pioneers in the Zika virus
p. 92
Résumé
In Global South countries, certain emerging diseases can be confused with dengue or yellow fever. This applies to Zika virus disease, a condition whose effects researchers are still trying to understand, and which is a public health priority.
Texte intégral
1When the world discovered the Zika virus during the South American epidemic of 2015, IRD had already been on the case since the occurrence of an epidemic in French Polynesia. But the virus itself was identified much earlier, in the 1940s in Uganda, in a Rhesus macaque. It was only detected in humans in 2007, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on the Yap islands. In most cases, Zika virus disease is characterised by fever, headaches, and hence goes unrecognised, except when it affects a woman during her first trimester of pregnancy, in which case it can cause deformities, including microcephaly in newborns.
2However this information was unknown when researchers started working on this virus. Their goal was to understand how the virus entered the body. They were the first to show that the virus does not just contaminate blood: it also infects skin cells. This finding was published in 2015, in the midst of the South American epidemic. The team became one of the world leaders in this field. They subsequently identified, along with their partners, the receptors allowing the virus to infect cells, paving the way for more therapeutic research.
3They are currently focusing on the effects of the virus on cultured brain cells, with a view to shedding light on why and how the Zika virus disrupts neurogenesis. It is still very difficult to assess the magnitude and nature of neurological sequelae affecting unborn children but also adults who, in some cases, develop movement disorders and visual impairment.
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