Zika Virus Outbreak
West Nile Virus
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: West Nile Virus, Its host, transmission and treatment
Why in news?
Ukraine is currently dealing with a serious outbreak of West Nile virus (WNV), with health officials raising alarms as the death toll rises.
About West Nile Virus
| Details | |
| Virus Type | Member of the flavivirus genus, family Flaviviridae |
| First Isolated | 1937 in a woman in the West Nile district of Uganda |
| Geographical Distribution | Commonly found in Africa, Europe, Middle East, North America, and West Asia |
| Transmission | Primarily transmitted through infected mosquito bites; mosquitoes become infected by feeding on infected birds. Can also spread through infected animal tissues. |
| Symptoms | – Asymptomatic: ~80% of infected individuals show no symptoms – West Nile Fever: ~20% develop symptoms like fever, headache, fatigue, body aches, nausea, vomiting, and occasional skin rash. |
| Peak Infection Period | Typically spikes between June and September (summer to autumn) |
| Reported Outbreaks | 19 countries have reported outbreaks, including Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Türkiye, and Kosovo. |
| Treatment | No vaccine available; supportive treatments provided for neuroinvasive WNV patients |
PYQ:[2017] Consider the following statements: 1. In tropical regions, Zika virus disease is transmitted by the same mosquito that transmits dengue. 2. Sexual transmission of Zika virus disease is possible. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 |
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Zika Virus Outbreak
India lacks diagnostic tests for emerging infectious diseases
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: About Zika Virus
Mains level: India’s Lack of Significant Zika Surveillance and Other Diseases
Why in the news?
The detection of a Zika virus infection in Pune has once again raised concerns regarding India’s readiness to diagnose emerging infectious diseases.
Recent Outbreaks in Various Regions of India
- Zika Virus: Recent cases of Zika virus in Pune and previous outbreaks in Kerala and Uttar Pradesh highlight sporadic but concerning outbreaks across India.
- Avian Influenza: Ongoing outbreaks affecting poultry, with occasional human cases reported, indicating challenges in surveillance and testing.
- Nipah Virus: Multiple outbreaks in Kerala and sporadic cases in West Bengal underscore the recurrent nature of Nipah virus outbreaks in India.
India’s Lack of Significant Zika Surveillance and Other Diseases
- Limited Diagnostic Capabilities: India faces challenges with the absence of approved diagnostic tests for the Zika virus, relying on clinical symptoms and selective testing, which may lead to underreporting.
- Surveillance Gaps: There is a notable gap in systematic surveillance systems specifically tailored for Zika and other emerging infectious diseases, hampering early detection and containment efforts.
- Infrastructure Deficiencies: The country’s diagnostic infrastructure outside major institutes is inadequate, affecting the timely identification and response to outbreaks of diseases like Zika, Nipah, and avian influenza.
- Dependency on Apex Institutes: Diagnostic facilities are largely concentrated in apex national institutes, limiting accessibility and delaying the implementation of crucial public health measures during outbreaks.
Impacts of Unavailability of Infrastructure
- Delayed Response: Lack of accessible diagnostics delays the identification and isolation of cases, contact tracing, and implementation of containment measures during outbreaks.
- Loss of Time: Delays in releasing genomic sequences and validating diagnostic tests impede the rapid development and deployment of effective diagnostics.
Way Forward (Role of ICMR)
- Enhanced Surveillance: ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) should lead efforts to decentralize testing facilities, ensuring availability at district and sub-district levels.
- Capacity Building: Develop accessible and affordable diagnostic tests for Zika, Nipah, and avian influenza, leveraging lessons from COVID-19 testing infrastructure expansion.
- Genomic Surveillance: Establish a system for the rapid release of whole genome sequences into public repositories like GISAID to enhance understanding and response capabilities.
- Collaboration: Foster collaboration with industry and research institutions to streamline diagnostic test approvals and improve preparedness for future outbreaks.
Mains PYQ:
Q COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented devastation worldwide. However, technological advancements are being availed readily to win over the crisis. Give an account of how technology was sought to aid the management of the pandemic. (UPSC IAS/2020)
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Zika Virus Outbreak
Autoimmune Diseases and the Promise of Inverse Vaccines
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Autoimmune diseases and the Concept of Inverse Vaccine
Mains level: Autoimmune diseases, Potential Applications of Inverse Vaccine and
What’s the news?
- Breakthrough Inverse vaccines offer hope for treating autoimmune diseases.
Central idea
- In the quest to combat autoimmune diseases, scientists are exploring a groundbreaking approach: inverse vaccines. While still in the developmental stage and yet to be tested on humans, this novel concept holds the potential to revolutionize the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
What are autoimmune diseases?
- Autoimmune diseases are a group of medical conditions in which the body’s immune system, which is designed to protect against foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses, mistakenly attacks its own healthy cells and tissues.
- Normally, the immune system can differentiate between the body’s own cells (self) and foreign substances (non-self), but in autoimmune diseases, this ability is disrupted, leading to immune responses directed against the body’s own tissues.
Key Facts
- There are more than 80 known autoimmune diseases, and they can affect virtually any part of the body, including the skin, joints, muscles, organs, and various systems like the nervous system or endocrine system.
- The exact cause of autoimmune diseases is often complex and not fully understood, but a combination of genetic, environmental, and hormonal factors is believed to contribute to their development.
- These diseases can vary in severity and may have periods of remission and flare-ups.
- Treatment typically involves managing symptoms, suppressing the immune response, and, in some cases, using medications to control inflammation or modulate the immune system.
- Autoimmune diseases can be chronic and require ongoing medical management.
- Some common autoimmune diseases include Type 1 Diabetes, Psoriasis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Systemic Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.
The Concept of Inverse Vaccine
- Conventional vaccines work by training the immune system to recognize and combat infectious agents. For instance, COVID-19 vaccines teach the immune system to identify the spike protein of the virus and neutralize it.
- In contrast, inverse vaccines do the opposite. They prevent the immune system from attacking healthy cells by retraining it to spare them.
- Inverse vaccines add a do not attack signal to healthy cells.
Table 1: Traditional Vaccines vs Inverse Vaccines
| Aspect | Traditional Vaccines | Inverse Vaccines |
| Primary Purpose | To stimulate the immune system to recognize and fight specific pathogens (e.g., viruses or bacteria) | To prevent the immune system from attacking healthy cells and tissues in autoimmune diseases |
| Components | Contain weakened or inactivated pathogens, proteins, or fragments derived from pathogens | May contain markers or signals to modify the immune response and prevent attacks on healthy cells |
| Immune Response | Elicits an immune response targeting specific pathogens, leading to the production of antibodies and memory cells | Modifies or suppresses the immune response in cases of autoimmune diseases, reducing attacks on healthy tissues |
| Application | Used to prevent infections by training the immune system to recognize and respond to specific threats | Investigated for the treatment of autoimmune diseases by retraining the immune system to tolerate healthy cells |
| Protection Mechanism | Provides protection against specific pathogens by building immunity | Preserves the body’s healthy cells by preventing autoimmune attacks |
| Examples | Vaccines for diseases like measles, polio, and influenza | Experimental vaccines for autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis |
| Status | Widely used and established in preventive medicine | Still in experimental stages, undergoing research and development |
Potential Applications of Inverse Vaccines
- Multiple Sclerosis (MS): Inverse vaccines may offer a new approach to managing MS by preventing immune cells from attacking cells in the brain and spinal cord.
- Type I Diabetes: These vaccines could potentially help protect insulin-producing cells in the pancreas from immune attacks, offering a potential treatment for Type 1 diabetes.
- Celiac Disease: Early safety trials are underway to test the use of inverse vaccines in celiac disease, a condition associated with gluten intolerance. These vaccines may help individuals respond better to gluten and manage the disease more effectively.
- Allergic Asthma: Inverse vaccines are under investigation for managing allergic asthma by modifying the immune response to allergens, potentially reducing asthma symptoms.
- Food Allergies: There is potential for inverse vaccines to improve tolerance to allergenic foods, making it safer for individuals with food allergies to consume these foods.
- Chronic Inflammatory Diseases: Inverse vaccines may find applications in managing chronic inflammatory conditions like Crohn’s disease, offering a targeted approach to modulating the immune response.
- Transplantation: Researchers are exploring the potential of inverse vaccines in organ transplantation to reduce the risk of organ rejection. These vaccines may help the recipient’s immune system tolerate the transplanted organ more effectively.
Adaptability to Different Diseases
- The concept of an inverse vaccine is not new. It was pioneered by Stanford researcher Lawrence Steinman in the early 2000s.
- Recent research led by Jeffrey Hubbell has opened the door to creating tailored inverse vaccines for various autoimmune diseases.
- This adaptability allows for precision in addressing specific conditions, enhancing their effectiveness.
Progress and Future Prospects
- Current Stage: Inverse vaccines are still in the experimental phase and have not yet been tested in human trials, as mentioned in the article.
- Safety Trials: Early safety trials are underway, including trials related to their use in celiac disease and Phase 1 safety trials for multiple sclerosis (MS).
- Potential Transformative Impact: Early indications of success, particularly in treating celiac disease, offer hope for transformative treatments.
- Development in the Field: Researchers anticipate more developments in the field of inverse vaccines in the next five to ten years.
- Adjustable Vaccines: The researchers are working on creating adjustable inverse vaccines tailored to different autoimmune diseases. This adaptability is expected to enhance their effectiveness.
- Broader Applications: While the primary focus is on autoimmune diseases, researchers are also exploring potential applications of inverse vaccines in managing food allergies and allergic asthma.
Conclusion
- Inverse vaccines represent a promising avenue for treating autoimmune diseases without compromising the overall immune response. As research continues, the prospect of bringing inverse vaccines from the lab to the clinic is an exciting possibility on the horizon.
Also read:
Tuberculosis (TB) Should No Longer Exists in the 21st Century: India can lead the way
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Everything you wanted to know about Zika virus
The World Health Organization (WHO) expects that Zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease, spreading through the Americas, to affect between 3 million and 4 million people. Let’s analyse this in brief!
Where was the first Zika virus outbreak identified?
- Zika virus is an emerging mosquito-borne virus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys through a monitoring network of sylvatic yellow fever.
- It was subsequently identified in humans in 1952 in Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania.
- Outbreaks of Zika virus disease have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.
Trivia : Do you know why is it called Zika Virus?
It was first isolated from Rhesus monkeys in Zika forest near Lake Victoria in Uganda.
Find Out why was Ebola virus named as such?
What makes this outbreak different?
- The current outbreak, the first ever in the western hemisphere, is a big deal for a number of reasons
- We now know that it’s not adults who have the most to lose but their unborn babies
- Microcephaly is a condition where a baby is born with an abnormally small head and brain defects
- Worldwide it affects only 1 in 30,000 to one in 250,000 newborns
- In Brazil there are usually a few hundred cases annually at most, but since October 2015, there have been 3,500 new microcephaly cases
But, what is microcephaly?
- Microcephaly is a rare condition where a baby has an abnormally small head.
- This is due to abnormal brain development of the baby in the womb or during infancy.
- Babies and children with microcephaly often have challenges with their brain development as they grow older.
- Microcephaly can be caused by a variety of environmental and genetic factors such as Downs syndrome; exposure to drugs, alcohol or other toxins in the womb; and rubella infection during pregnancy.
How does the Zika virus spread?
- Zika virus is transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito from the Aedes genus, mainly Aedes aegypti in tropical regions
- This is the same mosquito that transmits dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever
- Zika virus disease outbreaks were reported for the first time from the Pacific in 2007 and 2013 (Yap and French Polynesia, respectively), and in 2015 from the Americas (Brazil and Colombia) and Africa (Cape Verde)
How bad is it now?
- As of January 23, 2016, the Zika virus has spread to 21 countries and territories of the Americas
- It’s speculated that the virus must have arrived in Brazil along with the throngs that swept in during the 2014 FIFA World Cup
- Things look so grim that governments of 4 South American countries are now advising women to not get pregnant until the situation is brought under control
- The WHO has predicted that the virus is likely to spread all over North and South America, except for Chile and Canada where the Aedes aegypti mosquito is not present
- The reason that the WHO thinks these countries are so susceptible is that their populations have not been exposed to the virus before and hence have no immunity
Is there a cure?
- No, there isn’t. There exists medication for symptomatic relief but these are quite useless now that we know about the microcephaly link
- Research on the Zika virus is still quite primitive
- Given its generic symptoms in adults, it’s very easy to miss or misdiagnose
- Moreover, the virus doesn’t seem to show effects in common lab animals like mice and rats. Getting monkeys is extremely tough because of restrictions on primate research
- Vaccine development and antiviral drug discovery efforts are on but this takes time, and with the Zika virus, we’ll be starting from scratch
Does Brazil have a way out?
- Brazil needs an immediate plan of action for more than one reason
- Rio de Janeiro is frantically spraying insecticides at the parade grounds where the annual carnival celebrations will commence soon
- In August, the city is due to host the Olympics
What about India?
- India is one of the Aedes aegyptis’s many homes but the Zika virus itself has not ever been detected in our country so far
- However, in a study in the 1950s, healthy individuals from 6 Indian states showed passive immunity to the virus
- This means that though their blood contained antibodies against the virus, this was not because they were exposed to the virus
- Usually passive immunity is acquired through vaccines, from mother-to-child transmissions or breast milk
- In the case of India, where the Zika virus is not known to exist, the antibodies probably arose from exposure to similar viruses
- Nevertheless, theoretically, Zika can spread anywhere that the mosquito exists
- That means India, too. Indians are just as susceptible if they travel to high-risk countries
Is there something more that you wanted to know which we did not answer yet? Drop in with your questions.
Published with inputs from Arun | Image - Outbreaknews