Scientists From UCSD, Brazil Meet to Discuss Zika

Zika has been linked to birth defects, including microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome

Scientists and doctors from UC San Diego and Brazil met at Rady Children’s Hospital in Kearny Mesa Friday to share the latest research on the Zika virus and efforts to develop a possible vaccine.

Clinical work on related diseases in the same family as Zika has scientists hopeful.

“The good news is that we have related vaccines that are much closer to development. In fact there's a vaccine for a virus called Dangie virus that is starting to be used in certain parts of the world, and that's in the same family of viruses as Zika,” Doctor Mark Sawyer, a pediatric infectious disease specialist, said. 

Symptoms of Zika are usually mild and last from two to seven days. They include fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise and headache. The disease can be dangerous for pregnant women, however.

The mosquito-borne virus can spread through sex and has caused women in several countries to give birth to children with birth defects, including microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome.

The virus has also been detected within the U.S.

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