Zika virus kills cells that form key brain tissue: report

Researchers in the United States have found that Zika virus severely damages a type of neural stem cell that gives rise to the brain’s cerebral cortex.

• The researchers found that the Zika virus infects neuronal cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells.
• Several other questions however remain. For instance, why are the symptoms in adults so mild? How is the virus entering the nervous system of the developing foetus?

Significance of these findings:

• The findings are significant given that the World Health Organisation (WHO) is set to decide, within the next few months, whether the Zika virus — historically known to be relatively benign — is indeed wholly responsible for the outbreak of microcephaly, or deformed skulls, in newborns in Brazil and other parts of South America.
• Also, this is the first lab evidence of the potency of the Zika virus.

Zika virus:

Zika virus disease is an emerging viral disease transmitted through the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito. This is the same mosquito that is known to transmit infections like dengue and chikungunya.

• World Health Organisation has reported 22 countries and territories in Americas from where local transmission of Zika virus has been reported.
• It is now assumed that microcephaly in the newborn and other neurological syndromes (Guillain Barre Syndrome) are associated with Zika virus infection.