NIAID begin combined Zika-Dengue vaccine trial

A new trial underway from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, is currently working towards a universal vaccine that would target both Zika and Dengue viruses.

The trial will consist of 28 non-pregnant adults between 18 and 50 years old. The patients will be at either the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Immunization Research in Maryland, or at the Vaccine Testing Center at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine. If the test leads to a vaccine, it would be the first licensed Zika vaccine on the market.

“Zika virus infection remains a significant threat to pregnant women and their developing fetuses, and we can expect to see periodic outbreaks and cases in areas where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes thrive,” NIAID Director Anthony Fauci said. “NIAID remains committed to developing safe and effective Zika vaccines, and we are pleased to begin clinical testing of a live attenuated candidate.”

As of July 17, 2018, as many as 2,474 pregnancies in the United States and 4,900 in its territories have been affected by Zika, according to the U.S. Zika Pregnancy and Infant Registry.

Trial development is being led by Dr. Stephen Whitehead of NIAID’s Laboratory of Viral Diseases. He has created a sort of Frankenstein of viruses, made by combining genes from multiple sources, like Dengue and Zika. It is incapable of causing disease but should prompt an immune response in those injected by it. It has previously been tested on rhesus monkeys.

Volunteers for the study will record their temperature at home over the course of six months. They will also return periodically to their clinic for examinations and sampling. Blood tests will track how the patients are responding to the experimental vaccine. The trial could take up to one year to complete.