VHIR participates in a European consortium to combat Zika and other emerging infectious diseases

Dr. Antoni Soriano-Arandes, researcher from the Infection in Immunocompromised Pediatric Patients group at VHIR, participates in the ZIKAction project, a new European consortium awarded with €7 million to combat Zika virus and other emerging infectious diseases outbreaks.

Composed of 14 partners across Latin America, the Caribbean, North America and Europe, the ZIKAction consortium includes experts in infectious disease, virology, neonatology and epidemiology. ZIKAction will conduct an interdisciplinary programme of research studies to address key knowledge gaps related to ZIKV epidemiology, natural history and pathogenesis, focusing on maternal and child health.

Dr. Soriano-Arandes will coordinate a work package focused on the vertical transmission from mother to child. Specifically, his team will monitor pregnant women infected by the Zika virus in Jamaica, Haiti, Costa Rica and Brazil. They will also compare the evolution of the children of these women, in terms of neurological development, growth and other factors, to other children not exposed to the virus.

“The mechanisms involved in the transmission of the Zika virus from the mother to the fetus are still unknown, as well as the natural history of the disease, and its pathogenesis”, says Dr. Soriano-Arandes. For that reason, the new consortium will conduct studies to increase understanding of the pathogenesis and to develop and validate novel diagnostic methodologies.

The partners of the consortium, coordinated by the PENTA Foundation, have previous expertise on other congenital infections, including HIV. Now, they will work closely with two bigger consortiums, also funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 call. Dr. Soriano-Arandes will also coordinate, together with the SERGAS hospital network from Santiago de Compostela, the collaboration of his consortium with the others: the ZikaPLAN and the ZikaAlliance. The objective of these collaborations is to develop a Latin-American and Caribbean network for emerging infectious diseases preparedness and response, and to carry out activities of the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness.