Researchers At Hopkins Find Clue Linking Brain Defect To Zika Virus

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Medical milestone. The rush to find a proven link between the mosquito-borne Zika virus and brain defects in newborns is underway in Baltimore. Researchers at Johns Hopkins took on the task, and they may have discovered a big clue.

As Gigi Barnett explains, this could be the first step to developing a vaccine for the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control issued a warning to pregnant women--stay away from areas where mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus breed.

"Mosquito-borne transmission of Zika is really the most common way the virus spreads," said Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, CDC spokesperson.

That caused researchers to scramble and find a link between the virus and microcephaly in babies--a neurological condition that causes abnormally small heads and developmental delays.

Now, one team at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine may have discovered a critical clue.

"Zika virus has been found in the brains of aborted babies with small heads," said Guo-Li Ming, Johns Hopkins University neurology professor.

Ming and her team found that the Zika virus attacks nerve stem cells--the building blocks of the brain--causing those cells to create more of the Zika virus.

Before their eyes, researchers were able to see how the virus becomes a disease, but Ming says there are still many more questions that remain a mystery.

"It does not directly give the proof that this is exactly what the Zika virus is doing in the fetus. However, it does provide us a platform to do additional studies," she said.

In Maryland, four people have been diagnosed with the Zika virus, and there have been more than 100 cases nationwide--primarily among travelers who have visited affected countries.

Health workers say Zika is not a new virus. Some cases were reported back in the 1950s.