WIKIMEDIA, JEFFREY M. VINOCURAs reports of Zika virus infections continue to spread through the Americas, countless questions loom. Chief among them is about the relationship between infection during pregnancy and microcephaly in babies, which has been difficult to pin down given the limitations of current diagnostics. A number of researchers are working at breakneck speed to develop immunological reagents and assays that could confirm whether a person has had a Zika infection.
“We’re trying to do the best we can to give some answers to the clinicians relatively soon,” said Nikos Vasilakis, who is developing Zika tests at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
Currently, the standard assay for Zika viral infection is a PCR test that probes for the presence of viral RNA in a sample. While it works well to detect the virus, the pathogen’s RNA is only around for a short period of time. “By the time [patients] make it into the clinic, the virus is likely gone or it’s at the tail end, beyond the limit of detection,” said Vasilakis.
What clinicians and epidemiologists would really like is to be able to determine whether a baby was exposed to Zika in ...
