Hyderabad based vaccine and bio-therapeutic manufacturer, Bharat Biotech has claimed to have come up with a breakthrough in developing a vaccine to fight the dangerous Zika Virus. The virus which spreads through mosquitoes can have serious birth defects in children.

Krishna Ella, CMD Bharat Biotech said that some of the best minds of Bharat Biotech have begun working on Zika virus a year ago. He said that they have the advantage of being an early mover in developing the Zikavac.

Bharat Biotech is probably the first in the world to file for a global patent for Zika vaccine candidates. Ella added that at present, they have two candidate vaccines in development. One of them is an inactivated vaccine which is at the stage of pre-clinical testing in animals.

According to a WHO report, Zika virus is present in 23 countries. Brazil is the most affected country with around 3,530 reported cases of extreme birth defect called microcephaly in 2015. They are strongly suspected to be related to Zika. Ella said that Bharat Biotech is hoping to bring Zikavac to the world as soon as possible.

The dangerous Zika virus is spread by mosquitoes of Aedes genus. These mosquitoes are extremely resilient and are capable of breeding in a pool of water just the size of a bottle cap. These mosquitoes are known to usually bite humans during the day time. The Aedes mosquitoes are also known to cause Dengue, Yellow Fever and West Nile virus.

According to Dr Sumathy, Director, R&D, Bharat Biotech, the safety of the vaccine is being considered as the most important factor as the target group of this vaccine is women of child-bearing age and pregnant women. The manufacturers are putting safety as the overriding factor in the development of a new vaccine. The vaccine methods used in Brazil before the horrifying epidemics have given them some knowledge towards the fast development of the vaccine.

Image by Rilsonav from Pixabay (Free for commercial use)

Image Reference: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/dengue-fever-zika-mosquito-1151682/