AI Article Synopsis
- Longitudinal studies indicate that children exposed to the Zika virus in utero may develop motor skill deficits by age 3, despite not having severe birth defects.
- The Zika virus continues to circulate at low levels, raising concerns about its long-term health and socioeconomic effects on affected children.
- There's an urgent need for small animal models to study Zika virus transmission during pregnancy, as existing models can help develop antiviral strategies and enhance understanding of maternal-fetal immunity.
Article Abstract
Seven years after the onset of the Zika virus (ZIKV) epidemic in the Americas, longitudinal studies are beginning to demonstrate that children infected in utero and born without severe birth defects exhibit motor skill deficits at up to 3 years of age. Long term health and socioeconomic impacts of fetal ZIKV infection appear imminent. ZIKV continues to circulate in low levels much as the virus did for decades prior to the 2015 epidemic, and the timing of the ZIKV outbreak is unknown. Thus, in the continued absence of ZIKV vaccines or antivirals, small animal models of ZIKV transplacental transmission have never been more necessary to test antiviral strategies for both mother and fetuses, and to elucidate mechanisms of immunity at the maternal-fetal interface. Here we review the state of ZIKV transplacental transmission models, highlight key unanswered questions, and set goals for the next generation of mouse models.
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Source |
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9852097 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2022.105500 | DOI Listing |
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