Researchers at Western University are using saliva to help deveop a test for the Zika virus and to better understand how the virus works.
More than 70 countries around the world are reporting cases of the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus, and there is an urgency to figure out how to stop it from spreading further.
Scientists analyzed the saliva of a mother infected with the virus who gave birth to twins, one with microcephaly and one without, to pinpoint a protein.
“Discovery of Zika virus in saliva, months after exposure, is quite amazing for our understanding of this infection but also disconcerting for our public health approach in controlling Zika outbreaks. We need to have better, rapid, and cost effective diagnostic test for screening,” said Eric Arts, PhD, chair and professor of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, who co-authored the study.
They are also studying how the virus is passed from mother to baby.
They are now developing a device that can detect the protein present in the virus, and are hoping it will enable rapid detection of the virus, which will enable better and faster treatments.