WIKIMEDIA, D. SIROHI ET AL.Having worked on viruses for over 40 years, I know a fair number of people in the field, and I am amazed at how many of them have started to work on Zika virus. What exactly is attracting virologists to this emerging virus?
There are probably many reasons why Zika virus would be of interest to a research lab—what I call the “Zika effect”—but here are what I think are the three main factors.
First, Zika virus has become medically important in the past year, as it has spread globally and is infecting many people each day. There are many unanswered questions about the virus, and for a scientist, there is nothing better than unanswered questions (except, maybe, getting money to answer the questions—see below). Because the virus is causing human disease, these questions have an immediacy: Does the virus cause birth defects? Does the virus cross the placenta and, if so, how? How does the virus enter the central nervous system and cause disease? Because of the ...
