Our recent work on zika in PLOS neglected tropical diseases

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne virus of global health concern, notably due to its association with developmental disorders.

In this study, we characterized the contemporary West African ZIKV strain GUINEA-18. Compared with the historical MR766 strain, GUINEA-18 showed lower replication, reduced cytotoxicity and weaker innate immune activation. Chimeric virus experiments highlighted a contribution of the NS1–NS4B region, particularly NS4B, to its replication properties.

These findings provide new insights into the biological properties of contemporary African ZIKV strains.

The full paper can be downlaoded here: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0012066

👏 We thank all collaborators involved in this work.