For Zika virus, infecting brains isn’t a new trick

New research on the Zika virus contradicts the theory that high rates of microcephaly and other neural defects seen in the 2015 Brazilian Zika outbreak were due to newly acquired mutations in the virus. In a study published this week, scientists at Columbia University Medical Center discovered that older strains of the mosquito-borne virus can infect and damage developing brains just as well as recently isolated ones. The new work, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also provides a platform for studying other neurotropic viruses. Zika virus was identified in 1947, however human infections were rare and generally considered mild, attracting little scientific attention. That changed in 2015, when authorities in Brazil noted a strong correlation between Zika virus infection in pregnant women and microcephaly in their babies. The news caught the attention of Amy Rosenfeld, PhD, associate research scientist in microbiology & immunology. At the time, Dr. Rosenfeld...