Medication used to prevent and treat malaria may also be effective for Zika virus. The drug, called chloroquine, has a long history of safe use during pregnancy. Zika causes mild flu-like symptoms. But in pregnant women, the virus can cause serious birth defects in babies-including microcephaly-a neurological condition in which newborns have unusually small heads and fail to develop properly.
Presently, there is no treatment or way to reverse the condition. The latest research suggests the anti-malaria drug chloroquine may be an effective drug to treat and prevent Zika infections. Reseachers examined the effect of chloroquine in human brain organoids and pregnant mice infected with the virus, and found the drug markedly reduced the amount of Zika virus in maternal blood and neural progenitor cells in the fetal brain.
Pregnant mice received chloroquine through drinking water in dosages equivalent to acceptable levels used in humans. Although chloroquine did not completely clear Zika from infected mice it did reduce the viral load, suggesting it could limit the neurological damage found in newborns infected by the virus.
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