A novel antiviral hepatitis C drug may come in handy in combating to current Zika virus outbreak, according to new research from KU Leuven Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy in Belgium.
Because Zika virus is related to the hepatitis C virus, a research team led by Johan Neyts, PhD, examined whether some inhibitors of the hepatitis C virus also affect the development of the Zika virus in human cells. The team used mice to test their hypothesis.
They found Zika-infected mice treated with a hepatitis C virus inhibitor demonstrated a significant delay in virus-induced symptoms.
"The experimental hepatitis C inhibitor is not very powerful yet," conceded Dr. Neyts. "Nevertheless, our study opens up important new possibilities. We can now start testing the effectiveness of other promising virus inhibitors and vaccines against the Zika virus."
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