WASHINGTON DC (CMC) – International scientists have called for intensified research on the Zika virus.

Zika participants at the conclusion of a two-day special conference, organised by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), were told by scientists that research efforts must be ramped up to explore the unknown factors in microcephaly and congenital malformations that may be linked to infection with the Zika virus.

“The bottom line is that there is yet much to learn about Zika,” said Dr Marcos Espinal, director of PAHO’s Department of Communicable Diseases. “We have made some progress, but we still need to learn much more about this virus.

“Laboratory detection, epidemiology, the dynamics of arboviral diseases, mapping new vector control tools, these are among our priority research topics today,” he added.

Espinal said research partners at the meeting, including the Atlanta, Georgia-based US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Pasteur Institute and the Oswald Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), are working with PAHO to address the gaps in knowledge and evidence about Zika and its health effects.

Dr Paulo Buss of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation said, “Brazil is at the heart of this epidemic, and our surveillance system let us identify this epidemic rapidly and communicate it to PAHO, and link it with microcephaly.”

He said international solidarity is important, adding that universities and funding agencies should unite to coordinate and provide resources for research on Zika.

“It is critically important to share experiences and information on Zika to develop new tools,” said Dr Amadou Sall of the Pasteur Institute said.

He said that a task force has been set up to look at Zika and links to Guillain-Barré Syndrome, but added that there are many challenges in serology, testing, cross-reactions, and related areas.

Dr Lyle Petersen of the CDC said: “This is unique. We haven’t seen anything like this before.”

He said Zika is the first vector-borne virus that appears to cause infection in foetuses, the first reliably spread by sexual transmission, “and now is a widespread epidemic”.

“We must move extremely quickly,” Petersen said. “We have thousands of infections every single day in the Americas, and we must be prepared.”

He said mosquito control programmes have deteriorated and must be improved, adding that measures for community mosquito control must target pregnant women to help prevent them getting bitten by mosquitoes.

Dr Sylvain Aldighieri, PAHO’s Epidemic Alert and Response chief, who is serving as incident manager for the Zika response, said autochthonous Zika virus transmission has been reported in 31 countries and territories of the Americas, including many in the Caribbean.

But he said, so far, increases in microcephaly cases and other neonatal malformations have only been reported in Brazil and French Polynesia, although two cases linked to a stay in Brazil were detected in two other countries.

PAHO said eight countries and territories, including French Polynesia, have reported an increase in cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and/or laboratory confirmation of a Zika virus infection among GBS cases.

Aldighieri said the meeting was valuable, “because it helped to build collaboration and networking among the institutions advancing research on various aspects of Zika”.

“Our most important tool to combat Zika—and at the same time, dengue and chikungunya—is control of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmit these diseases,” Espinal said.

“Since these mosquitoes live in and around houses, this will take a concerted effort with intensified community engagement to reduce the number of mosquitoes in the Americas,” he added.

“We are also looking urgently at improving control methods including insecticides and other technologies.”