Zika : the virus would be transmitted not by saliva

xtrekx/Epictura

Published the 02.08.2017 at 18h04

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zikaépidémie

The virus Zika is in loss of speed from a little less than a year, and the world health Organization (WHO) has lifted the state of emergency for global public health. But it remains an object of concern for researchers, who are trying to find remedies and will continue to study its operation and its transmission.

Researchers from the university of Wisconsin (Usa) are particularly focused on the possibilities of transmission through the mouth. In an article published in the journal Nature Communications, they conclude that a simple kiss or sharing cutlery are not sufficient to transmit Zika.

Tests on monkeys

They used rhesus monkeys, and evaluated in different ways the risk of contamination.In a first time, they submitted a sample strongly depends virus on the tonsils of macaques, who have been infected, thus validating the possibility of transmission through the mouth.

Then, they injected the virus to a monkey, thereby mimicking an infected mosquito, and then collected her saliva charged at the virus. By repeating the first experiment with this saliva, no contamination has been observed, because the viral load is too low (but not zero) in the saliva.

These two experiments thus show that the contamination by the mouth is possible, but very highly unlikely. “We believe that these results apply to men,” said to AFP professor Thomas Friedrich, a virologist at the university of Wisconsin, and lead author of the study.