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Fight against little-known Zika virus applies lessons from Ebola

Research

While the world’s attention has been focussed on Ebola, another outbreak has been spreading in a number of countries across the world.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

Now, Oxford University infectious disease specialists are applying the lessons from the Ebola outbreak to try to support local medics and researchers to get ahead of this new pathogen.

Zika, carried by the Aedes mosquito, has been known about for some years, typically causing mild illness and a rash. Now, however, reports from South America suggest that it is causing birth defects in newborn babies of women who have had Zika.

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