Researchers create innovative approach to identifying Zika virus

International researchers have created a new test able to quickly and cost-effectively identify Zika virus infection up to 9 months’ post-exposure. The new test examines proteins and peptides in saliva using proteomics, the study of proteomes and their functions. According to a press release on the research, published in the Journal of Dental Research (JDR), this is the first time proteomics has been used in this way “to accurately detect exposure to the Zika virus.” For the study, the researchers looked at 3-month postnatal saliva samples from a 25-year-old women, “clinically diagnosed with Zika fever in the first trimester,” according to the study, and her dizygotic twins. (The mother had been infected with Zika 9 months prior.) The male twin was born healthy, while the female twin was born with microcephaly. Mass spectrometry was used to complete peptidomic analysis and the authors used the National Institutes of Health Zika Virus Resource database...