The average time it takes to test and develop a new drug takes about 12 years – but when a virus without any known treatment starts to cause fetal development complications in pregnant mothers, that development process is 12 years and 9 months too late

However, according to the work of a diverse research team at Florida State University, the components of our figurative bug swatter may already exist.

Through a testing and selection process called “repurposing screening,” researchers sifted through over 6,000 compounds that were already FDA approved or in their clinical trial stages – this way, the drug can quickly start to be administered to those affected without having to go through testing trials.

“We teamed up to look for small molecule compounds that can inhibit Zika virus replication,” said Hengli Tang, Professor of Biological Science at FSU. “We [also] hope[d] of finding drugs to treat Zika virus infection.”

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After testing each compound on lab grown human cells, Tang and his team discovered two trait distinctive compound classes that could be used to treat the Zika virus: one class inhibited the virus from multiplying; and the other was neuroprotective against Zika induced cell-damage to the precursor brain cells of fetal development.

Because both compound classes were already FDA approved or in their clinical trial stages, different compounds from each class could be combined to create a new drugs that would already be close to the testing stage of development.

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“We live in Florida, and we know there are cases in Florida,” said Tang. “So [Zika] is something that is very close to home. I think that [our research] counts for something: the ability to perhaps affect people’s lives in a positive way.”

This Story Is All Abuzz With Interest: Click To Share – Photo by Aedes Albopictus</s>No Zika cases have so far been detected among athletes, spectators or other participants in last month’s Olympic Games in Brazil, says the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“We don’t have any confirmed cases of Zika amongst travellers or amongst … the athletes,” Peter Salama, the WHO’s chief on outbreaks and health emergencies, told reporters. He pointed to data presented by Brazilian experts to the UN health agency’s emergency committee on Thursday detailing the situation in the country, which has been the hardest-hit by far.

The experts provided “very convincing data” showing that among all Olympic athletes and spectators who sought medical attention during the Games, not a single case of acute Zika infection had been detected, emergency committee chair David Heymann said. Nor have any such cases been reported in people who returned back to their own countries following the games, he said.

Ahead of the Olympics there was widespread concern that international travellers flocking to the Games would help the virus to spread further and faster. The WHO had, however, stressed that since the Games were held during the Brazilian winter, risk of transmission of the mosquito-borne virus was “minimal”.

“The data to date has really validated that assessment,” Salama said, adding that he remained “optimistic that the same risk assessment will hold” for the upcoming Paralympic Games in Brazil. He acknowledged that there could still be “a few cases that come up, either now or after the Paralympics”.

“But certainly, we feel fairly confident that the risk assessment that there [would] be no significant increase in transmission due to the Olympics is fairly much on track,” he said.

The WHO has said Zika was still a public health emergency, reiterating its February position. Seventy countries and territories have reported local mosquito-borne Zika transmission, with Brazil by far the hardest hit.

Since the outbreak began last year, more than 1.5 million people have been infected with Zika in Brazil and more than 1 600 babies born with abnormally small heads and brains.

Benign in most people, Zika has been linked to a form of severe birth defect called microcephaly which causes newborns’ heads to be abnormally small. It can also cause rare adult-onset neurological problems, such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome, which can result in paralysis.</s>With The Bahamas having eight confirmed cases of Zika Virus and 83 suspected cases pending, officials from the Ministry of Tourism in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and the Department of Environment Health Services held an informational session yesterday at the British Colonial Hilton.

Key stakeholders, as well as members of the public, were present at the session and posed questions to the officials from the various ministries.

The government’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Glen Beneby spoke to reporters after the meeting and revealed how much the government is spending to combat this issue.

“The current budget is $2.5 million a month, so an annual budget of $30 million a year; the dynamics of public health require you to have a budget to deal with whatever changes occur.

“In addition when situations like this occur, they go beyond what you expect, after it was made known to the Ministry of Health that we would have potential Zika cases we began to look at upgrading our services in the public health sector, once we got our first case, we realized that we would have to do additional spending,” Dr. Beneby said.

Zika is caused by a virus transmitted primarily by Aedes mosquitoes. People with Zika virus disease can have symptoms including mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or headache.

One of the more concerning aspects around the Zika virus is the fact that samples have to be flown out of the country to a reference lab and then officials have to wait two to three weeks for these results to be confirmed.

However, Dr. Beneby did confirm that plans are in progress to rectify the lab situation here in the country.

“It’s going to cost us in the region of $50,000 to $100,000 to modify the lab situation and have the lab ready. Fortunately, we have people in the country who could do the testing, so we had to purchase the equipment and upgrade the space which will be done very soon.

“I’m very optimistic at this pivotal moment as we look towards universal healthcare coverage it becomes very clear to the Bahamian people how important it is to work together as a community.

Testing time should be reduced by more than 50 percent but that turnaround time will be determine by the number of tests but it will be less than a week.

“We have decided that we will have weekly updates and I see that remaining for the time being but if it’s an increasing number of cases we will make it more frequent,” Dr. Beneby said.

A question posed by a citizen at the session was concerning the screening process surrounding blood donors seeing that the lab tests take two to three weeks. Dr. Beneby said that an in depth questionnaire is currently the primary screening process.

“The Bahamas has been for many years compliant to the international standard for blood testing obviously this Zika requirement is something that has occurred to us fairly quickly, now that the CDC is recommending a similar screening process in testing for blood donation we will fall in line.

In regards to the disease and prevention itself, Dr. Beneby lamented on the fact that over 80 per cent of persons with Zika do not display any clinical symptoms.

“This is a significant point because there is always the real possibility that somebody can get the virus and don’t know they have the virus and this is why we recommend that if you go to an area where the virus in endemic, where it’s actually happening that you pay particular attention when you return to The Bahamas,” Dr. Beneby said.

Health officials are also stressing the importance of safe sex practices and the use of condoms, particularly married couples as the virus lives in semen for up to 60 days.</s>WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats on Tuesday for the third time in two months blocked a $1.1 billion legislative package to help fight the Zika virus, but lawmakers in both parties said they now hope negotiations will begin in earnest to quickly come up with a bipartisan deal to address the potential public health crisis.

Congress is under intense pressure to pass a funding agreement before the end of September when Centers for Disease Control director Tom Frieden estimates his agency will run out of money to continue its efforts to combat the spread of Zika, which can cause birth defects. After months of bickering over the details of a deal, many in Congress expect that lawmakers now back in Washington after a seven-week break will feel a renewed urgency to find a solution this month before heading home for the elections.

"It is certainly a moral imperative for the Congress of the United States to pass legislation which will meet a very critical health challenge to its citizens," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Tuesday.

Before those negotiations begin in earnest, however, Senate Republicans on Tuesday were eager to make a political point by forcing Democrats to once more block Zika legislation that passed the House earlier this year.

"Today we'll give Senate Democrats another opportunity to follow through on their own calls for action on Zika," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the Senate floor.

The vote was 52 to 46 and 60 votes were needed for the legislation to advance. The Zika funding is part of a broader bill funding the Pentagon and veterans programs.

Democrats are blocking the legislation over objections to what they charge are politically-motivated provisions added to the bill by Republicans, including language preventing the Zika funds from being used by Planned Parenthood and provisions relaxing use of certain pesticides.

But there is near universal agreement in Congress that lawmakers must do something ahead of the elections to show they are taking steps to help prevent the spread of mosquito-borne virus.

The CDC reports that there were 35 cases of locally-transmitted cases of Zika in the United States as of August 31. An additional 2,686 were reported as travel-related transmissions. At least 16 babies have been born in the United States with birth defects linked to the virus.

Mosquito season typically lasts through October and transmission could continue through that time period. Frieden told reporters in July that the agency "might not have the resources" to send teams to support local and state officials if the virus spreads after the money runs out in September.

"Basically, we're out of money, and we need Congress to act to allow us to respond effectively," he said.

This time pressure has many, including Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., preparing to link Zika talks with negotiations to pass a short-term spending bill before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Tuesday that he thinks it would make sense to combine the budget and Zika talks.

"We can't neglect that any longer," Cornyn said. "I think trying to find some path forward in a year-end appropriations bill would make sense."

He said it is likely that Congress will have to pass a short-term spending bill that would keep the government open until sometime after the election in November. Cornyn said that while he would prefer to avoid reopening spending talks in November or December, it is clear Democrats and President Barack Obama will only accept a short-term extension of current spending.

If Zika and the broader spending talks are linked, Democrats insist Republicans will likely be forced to return to a bipartisan deal the Senate approved in May. That bipartisan compromise legislation would have provided $1.1 billion in Zika funding through September 2017 and it did not include the added provisions objected to by Democrats.

The House rejected that proposal after conservatives objected to the amount of funding. The two sides attempted to overcome the disagreement, but Republicans decided to craft their own bill after talks dragged on for weeks. The result was a $1.1 billion Zika package that included restrictions on Planned Parenthood and cuts to other federal health programs to offset the cost of the bill.

Democrats continue to object to that measure and hope to revive the earlier bipartisan Senate agreement.

"We passed something here with 89 votes. It went to the House and they sent it back with all of this strange, weird stuff in it," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday. "It is time to move forward."

Hoyer said Republicans intentionally added "poison pill" measures that would force Democrats to reject the bill so that they could spend the summer blaming them for blocking the legislation. He said he now expects the two sides to come together to negotiate a deal before the end of the month so long as GOP leaders drop the objectionable elements.

"If $1.1 billion is passed by the Senate on a bipartisan basis and it were put on the floor I think it would pass," Hoyer said.</s>The Florida Republican never opened the jar, but said on the House floor: "I brought these mosquitoes here today to convey that fear and that anxiety of millions of Americans -- Floridians."

"Can you imagine, colleagues, the anxiety in this chamber if these 100 mosquitoes were outside this jar, not inside this jar? Members of Congress would run down the hall to the physician's office to be tested. They would spray themselves before coming down here."

Jolly said that anxiety "is the fear of Floridians, right here."

"It is not good enough to work on a compromise for months and months and months with no solution. The time for politics of Zika is over. The politics of Zika are garbage right now. The fact that candidates are going to spend money on commercials about Zika instead of responding together in a bipartisan, bicameral way in a divided government to a public health crisis -- Americans understand that we are wasting time."

Jolly, who dropped a long-shot Senate bid earlier this year, has incentive to push for action on the Zika virus: He faces a tough re-election fight against Democratic challenger Charlie Crist. During the seven-week August recess Congress just completed, Jolly said cases of Zika in the United States climbed from 4,000 to "by some estimates more than 16,000." He represents Pinellas County, the home of St. Petersburg and Clearwater with nearly 1 million residents, and said his constituents "are scared." "In that fear, they are demanding action and they are seeing inaction. And in that inaction they are angry -- angry," Jolly said. It wasn't the only Zika-related prop used Wednesday. A 5-month-old baby, Jackie, and her mother, Emily Holumbowich, the executive director of the Coalition for Health Funding, attended news conferences with House and Senate Democrats. Funding to combat the Zika virus has been a political football since Congress returned Tuesday. In the Senate, on Tuesday night Democrats blocked a Zika funding bill, complaining that it included a provision to prevent funding for Planned Parenthood and no longer included a provision in the House bill banning Confederate flags from veterans' cemeteries. "Republicans were more interested in attacking Planned Parenthood and flying the Confederate flag -- can't make this stuff up, that's really the truth -- than protecting women and babies from this awful virus," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said. Republicans, meanwhile, blamed Democrats for the continued stalemate. "It's hard to explain why -- despite their own calls for funding -- Senate Democrats decided to block a bill that could help keep pregnant women and babies safer from Zika," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor.</s>HEALTH authorities on Monday announced that a woman from Iloilo had tested positive for the mosquito-borne Zika virus that causes microcephaly in newborns, the first such case recorded this year.

This brought to six the total number of cases registered in the country since 2012, Department of Health (DOH) Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag told reporters in a news conference.

Tayag described the first Zika case for the year as a 45-year-old female, married and not pregnant, from Iloilo province.

The virus most likely came from local transmission because the woman had no history of travel to any affected country in the past two weeks, Tayag said.

Tayag said the woman reported to doctors on August 31, and was found to have skin rashes and joint pains, but without fever.

She was confined in a local hospital where urine and blood samples were collected. The 45-year-old tested positive for Zika in both urine and blood samples.

The tests were done at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine In Muntinlupa.

The woman is at home recovering from a mild illness.

Tayag said the DOH had sent a team to do follow-up tests in the area where the woman is residing.

Dr. Gundo Weiler, World Health Organization country representative, lauded the Philippines for its ability to control the virus, noting that out of 37 Western Pacific countries, the Philippines has reported only six cases since 2012.

Zika is primarily transmitted through the bite of the Aedes mosquito. Sexual transmission has been reported in other countries like Brazil and Singapore.

The Zika virus results in mild illness but has caused neurologic defects (microcephaly) in babies born of infected mothers.

The DOH has coordinated with the local officials to intensify mosquito control efforts including targeted fogging.

Tayag reminded everyone to be “good citizens” by avoiding mosquito bites and cleaning up mosquito-breeding areas.

Tayag said people, especially pregnant women, with skin rashes and with symptoms like fever, red eyes and joint pains should consult any government health facility immediately.

“The key to Zika prevention is heightened vigilance and stronger community efforts of every household,” Tayag said.</s>GENEVA — The United Nations health agency is changing its advice to travelers returning from areas facing a Zika virus outbreak, saying men and women should now practice safe sex or abstinence for six months.

The World Health Organization’s guidance applies to all travelers, regardless of whether they show symptoms of the virus.

The organization’s previous guidance in early June was only for men who showed no symptoms to use condoms or abstain from sex for eight weeks after returning from areas with epidemics. The disease is mostly transmitted by mosquitoes but can also be spread via sex.</s>With The Bahamas having eight confirmed cases of Zika Virus and 83 suspected cases pending, officials from the Ministry of Tourism in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and the Department of Environment Health Services held an informational session yesterday at the British Colonial Hilton.

Key stakeholders, as well as members of the public, were present at the session and posed questions to the officials from the various ministries.

The government’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Glen Beneby spoke to reporters after the meeting and revealed how much the government is spending to combat this issue.

“The current budget is $2.5 million a month, so an annual budget of $30 million a year; the dynamics of public health require you to have a budget to deal with whatever changes occur.

“In addition when situations like this occur, they go beyond what you expect, after it was made known to the Ministry of Health that we would have potential Zika cases we began to look at upgrading our services in the public health sector, once we got our first case, we realized that we would have to do additional spending,” Dr. Beneby said.

Zika is caused by a virus transmitted primarily by Aedes mosquitoes. People with Zika virus disease can have symptoms including mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or headache.

One of the more concerning aspects around the Zika virus is the fact that samples have to be flown out of the country to a reference lab and then officials have to wait two to three weeks for these results to be confirmed.

However, Dr. Beneby did confirm that plans are in progress to rectify the lab situation here in the country.

“It’s going to cost us in the region of $50,000 to $100,000 to modify the lab situation and have the lab ready. Fortunately, we have people in the country who could do the testing, so we had to purchase the equipment and upgrade the space which will be done very soon.

“I’m very optimistic at this pivotal moment as we look towards universal healthcare coverage it becomes very clear to the Bahamian people how important it is to work together as a community.

Testing time should be reduced by more than 50 percent but that turnaround time will be determine by the number of tests but it will be less than a week.

“We have decided that we will have weekly updates and I see that remaining for the time being but if it’s an increasing number of cases we will make it more frequent,” Dr. Beneby said.

A question posed by a citizen at the session was concerning the screening process surrounding blood donors seeing that the lab tests take two to three weeks. Dr. Beneby said that an in depth questionnaire is currently the primary screening process.

“The Bahamas has been for many years compliant to the international standard for blood testing obviously this Zika requirement is something that has occurred to us fairly quickly, now that the CDC is recommending a similar screening process in testing for blood donation we will fall in line.

In regards to the disease and prevention itself, Dr. Beneby lamented on the fact that over 80 per cent of persons with Zika do not display any clinical symptoms.

“This is a significant point because there is always the real possibility that somebody can get the virus and don’t know they have the virus and this is why we recommend that if you go to an area where the virus in endemic, where it’s actually happening that you pay particular attention when you return to The Bahamas,” Dr. Beneby said.

Health officials are also stressing the importance of safe sex practices and the use of condoms, particularly married couples as the virus lives in semen for up to 60 days.</s>Zika virus: Philippines confirms first case this year as Indonesia rules out thorough testing

Posted

The Philippines has confirmed its first case of the Zika virus this year and says it is "highly likely" it has been locally transmitted, and it expects more cases after stepping up surveillance.

Key points: Woman who tested positive in the Philippines is not pregnant

Singapore to no longer isolate people who have virus

Indonesia says it cannot afford thorough testing for virus

A 45-year-old woman who lives in Iloilo city in the central Philippines has the virus, Dr Eric Tayag, spokesman at the Health Ministry, told a media briefing.

The woman is not pregnant, he said, and was recovering at her home. It was considered "highly likely" she had contracted the virus locally as she had no history of travel to any affected country in the past two weeks, Dr Tayag said.

The Philippines reported its first case of Zika in 2012, that of a teenaged boy in Cebu island in the central Philippines. Four subsequent cases were foreigners.

A Zika outbreak is affecting large parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, with Brazil the hardest hit, but cases have been cropping up in Asia.

Singapore has reported more than 240 Zika cases since the first locally infected case was detected on August 27 and neighbouring Malaysia has reported one such case.

Singapore's said on Monday it would no longer isolate people who test positive for Zika or are suspected of carrying it.

In a statement, the Health Ministry said the presence of Aedes mosquitoes that carry the virus, as well as the fact that most people do not display symptoms, meant isolating patients already infected would have limited effect.

"Over time, we expect Zika cases to emerge in more areas given the presence of the Aedes mosquitoes here," it said.

"As the cases of Zika in Singapore have been mild so far, confirmed cases will no longer need to be hospitalised unless medically indicated."

The Government will also pay for the cost of Zika tests for Singaporeans with symptoms of the virus, the Ministry added.

Zika testing too costly for Indonesia

Meanwhile, an Indonesian Health Ministry official said his country could not afford to thoroughly check for a possible Zika outbreak.

The World Health Organisation lists Indonesia among Asian countries with possible endemic transmission of, or evidence of, local Zika infections, but authorities in the sprawling nation of 250 million people have yet to report any recent infections.

"At the moment we cannot go out there and test everybody or every suspected case for Zika because it is too costly," Muhamad Subuh, director general for disease prevention and control at Indonesia's Health Ministry, said.

"There are other priorities like dengue fever, which is more prevalent and more dangerous, and we have to allocate our resources accordingly."

Like many of its neighbours, Indonesia records thousands of dengue infections a year.

Indonesia is South-East Asia's biggest economy but the World Bank estimates the government spends 5.7 per cent of its gross domestic product on public health, which works out to $US99 ($131) per person per year, compared with $606 in Malaysia, the region's third largest economy.

Mr Subuh said the Ministry was actively monitoring for Zika, but experts said authorities would struggle to identify patients as few hospitals offer Zika testing, and those that did expected patients to pay more than $198 for a test, putting it out of reach of many ordinary Indonesians.

Reuters

Topics: diseases-and-disorders, health, philippines, singapore, indonesia, asia</s>WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers returning to Washington after a seven-week break picked up right where they left off -- feuding about legislation to battle the mosquito-borne Zika virus and deadlocked over the defense budget.

In its first vote Tuesday, Senate Democrats for the third time blocked a $1.1 billion Zika funding package and an accompanying Veterans Affairs spending bill over restrictions on Planned Parenthood. They were set to vote to prevent the Senate from turning to a $576 billion Pentagon spending measure.

"It's hard to explain why -- despite their own calls for funding -- Senate Democrats decided to block a bill that could help keep pregnant women and babies safer from Zika," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "It's also hard to explain why -- despite the array of terror attacks we've seen across the world -- Senate Democrats decided to block a bill that could help keep the American people safer from threats."

Democrats oppose the Zika measure as it bars Planned Parenthood clinics in Zika-suffering Puerto Rico from receiving new money to treat the disease and curb its spread. The legislation also would ease, over the objections of environmentalists, permitting requirements for pesticide spraying to kill the mosquitoes that can spread the virus.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans had "loaded it up with poison-pill riders to assuage the hard right."

Republicans added those provisions to the measure in June, along with spending cuts to help pay for the Zika bill, saying they are reasonable priorities that reflect their control of the House and Senate.

The Zika threat hasn't gripped the public as Ebola did two years ago, but pressure is building as dozens of mosquito-transmitted Zika cases have been confirmed in the political battleground state of Florida since lawmakers left Washington in July.

Last month, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden announced the agency would run out of funding for programs to combat the virus by the end of this month. "The cupboard is bare," he said.

The defense bill, meanwhile, is caught in a furious battle sparked by a Republican move to use emergency war funds to try to artificially increase the basic Pentagon budget by $16 billion next year. President Barack Obama's administration and its Democratic allies on Capitol Hill are dead set against the idea, which breaks with a hard-won budget deal that's less than a year old; they say that if Republicans want more money for defense, domestic programs will have to receive an equal boost.

The defense battle won't be resolved until after Election Day, but Tuesday's vote on Zika should send the warring parties back to the drawing board, and it appears likely that the provision targeting Planned Parenthood -- and perhaps the underlying $95 million worth of social services grants -- will have to be dropped from the measure.

"We're going to work through these issues and I'm sure we'll have a successful outcome to make sure just that the trains are running on time," House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told hometown radio host Stan Milam of AM 1380 in Janesville on Tuesday.

On the Zika virus, which has spread over the summer and is linked to birth defects, Ryan said, "I do believe we'll find some kind of resolution."

"Despite Senate Democrats' obstruction of the House-passed $1.1 billion bill to fight Zika, we are confident resources will get approved in September," Ryan spokesman AshLee Strong said.

For his part, Ryan has to navigate some tricky waters on the underlying stopgap spending bill, known in Washington-speak as a continuing resolution. Some conservatives want to block any postelection session and are pressing for a continuing resolution that keeps the government open until March or so. But Obama and Senate Democrats are against the idea -- they want a full-year spending agreement completed this year -- and Ryan said he wants to keep negotiating on the full-year spending bills through the fall.

Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 House Democrat, on Tuesday said an extension of current spending "should be in my view be passed as soon as possible, it should go to sometime in December" and budget work should be finished by the end of the year.

But Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters last week that "we are not going to agree to a long-term [continuing resolution]." He added, "We are not doing anything into next year. Republicans should be aware of that right now."

As the inauguration of the next president looms in January, a multiyear restoration of the Capitol Dome is nearing completion, and the Rotunda reopened for visitors on Tuesday, free of scaffolding and safety netting that prevented visitors from a full view of its artwork.

Information for this article was contributed by Andrew Taylor of The Associated Press and by Kelsey Snell of The Washington Post.
A new infection of the Zika virus spreads to the Philippines.