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In a promising result for the success of vaccines against COVID-19, rhesus macaque monkeys infected with the human coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 developed protective immune responses that might be reproduced with a vaccine. The work was carried out at the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis and is published Jan. 22 in the journal
Nature Communications. These results suggest that vaccines inducing durable protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 do so by stimulating robust germinal center responses - a question that can be effectively answered using the rhesus model, said Smita Iyer, assistant professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and Center for Immunology and Infectious Diseases.
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IMAGE: Cross-section of the eye of an infant rhesus monkey eye exposed to Zika virus in utero, showing an oval-shaped defect in the retina. view more
Credit: Glenn Yiu and Koen Van Rompay, UC Davis
While the SARS-CoV-2 virus has dominated the news this past year, researchers continue to study the health effects of the Zika virus, which has been reported in 86 countries globally.
The Zika virus is primarily transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito from the Aedes genus. However, it can also be passed through sexual contact, blood transfusions, organ transplants, and between mother and baby during pregnancy. The virus has been documented to cause a range of birth defects, including microcephaly and various neurological, musculoskeletal, and eye abnormalities.