Canadian University to Hold First Zika Vaccine Test on Humans

A Canadian university will conduct the world's first Zika vaccine test on humans as health authorities scramble to counter the explosively spreading virus.

Zika virus is transmitted primarily by mosquitoes and there is no existing treatment or vaccine for it. The virus is capable of causing serious birth defects and has traveled quickly through Latin America.

A Canadian university revealed that it will conduct the world's first Zika vaccine test on humans as health authorities scramble to counter the explosively spreading virus.

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Zika virus is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes which causes mild fever with maculopapular rash. No treatment or vaccine is currently available.

‘A Canadian university will conduct the world's first Zika vaccine test on humans as health authorities scramble to counter the explosively spreading virus.’

"The Zika vaccine that's under development will be administered to humans in the coming days," Universite Laval, based in Quebec City, said in a statement.

"We're very proud to be part of the first international team in the world to complete all of the steps in the regulatory process," said Gary Kobinger, doctor of microbiology and professor of medicine at the university, who is overseeing the study.

Kobinger noted that development of the Zika vaccine was authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada. Until now, vaccines have been tested on mice.

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The elderly patient had an unusually high level of virus in the blood, though it is still not known exactly how the infection spread.

Kobinger, a global authority on vaccines, is a researcher at CHU, a hospital center affiliated with the university. CHU is conducting the study in collaboration with two centers in the United States.

"CHU de Quebec-Universite Laval is one of the three leading research centers involved in the vaccine study and we're very proud of that," said Gertrude Bourdon, president and CEO of CHU.

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More than a dozen pharmaceutical companies, including France's Sanofi and India's Bharat Biotech, are working on developing a Zika vaccine, according to the World Health Organization.

The WHO has forecast sharp growth in the outbreak in the Americas, with as many as four million people infected.

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Zika virus is linked to serious birth defects, including microcephaly, in which babies born to women infected during pregnancy have abnormally small heads.

Source-AFP