Zika virus vaccine could be ready for emergency use before end of 2016

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A patient suffering from the Guillain-Barre neurological syndrome recovers in the neurology ward of the Rosales National Hospital in San Salvador, El Salvador on Jan. 27, 2016. Health authorities have issued a national alert against the Aedes aegypti mosquito, vector of the Zika virus which might cause microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Andre Penner/Ap Photo
Army soldiers prepare for a clean up operation against the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is a vector for transmitting the Zika virus, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Jan. 28, 2016. The sticker reads in Portuguese "Beware, this mosquito can kill."
JOSUE DECAVELE/REUTERS
A sterile female Aedes aegypti mosquito is seen on the forearm of a health technician in a research area to prevent the spread of Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases in Guatemala City.
Ramon Espinosa/Ap Photo
A man drives his horse-drawn carriage through fumigation fog in Pinar del Rio, Cuba on March 1, 2016. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico braces for a surge in the Zika virus declaring a public health emergency and raising a threat to the rest of the U.S.
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A patient suffering from the Guillain-Barre neurological syndrome recovers in the neurology ward of the Rosales National Hospital in San Salvador, El Salvador on Jan. 27, 2016. With no vaccine available, controlling the mosquitos and their spread is key to fighting the virus.
Ivan Alvarado/Reuters
Chile's Health Minister Carmen Castillo (C) talks to the media during an information campaign on Zika virus by the Chilean Health Ministry at the departures area of Santiago's international airport on Jan. 28, 2016. The banner reads: "Zika virus, know before your trip."
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A Health Secretary employee fumigates against mosquito Aedes Aegypti mosquito inside a shop of Cali, Colombia on Jan. 28, 2016. The Zika virus is "spreading explosively" in the Americas and the region may see up to four million cases of the disease strongly suspected of causing birth defects, the World Health Organization said Thursday.
Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
Tatiane Luiza, who is eight months pregnant, is examined by doctors at the IMIP hospital in Recife, Brazil, on Jan. 28, 2016.
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"The level of concern is high, as is the level of uncertainty," Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO's director-general, told her organization's executive board members in a meeting in Geneva on Jan. 28, 2016. "We need to get some answers quickly." There are estimates that there may have been 1.5 million Zika cases in this year's Olympic host country Brazil, where the outbreak started last year, senior WHO officials said.
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On Feb. 1, 2016, the World Health Organization declared the rapidly-spreading Zika Virus a global emergency, a usually rare measure that signals just how serious the situation. Here, Director-General of WHO Margaret Chan holds a news conference after the first meeting of the International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee concerning the Zika virus.
Enrique De La Osa/Reuters
People walk among clouds of insecticide after a fumigating truck moved past in Havana, Cuba on March 1, 2016. Despite all the preventative measures the country has taken in the past month, the first case of Zika has officially been reported as of March 2, 2016.
Natacha Pisarenko/Ap Photo
A fumigation brigade sprays an area of Chacabuco Park in a Aedes mosquito control effort, in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Jan. 27, 2016. Zika virus is spread by the same Aedes mosquito as dengue fever and chikunguya. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says researchers have found strong evidence of a possible link between Zika and a surge of birth defects in Brazil.
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A horse grazes amid fumigation fog, released to kill Aedes Aegypti mosquitos, in Pinar del Rio, Cuba on March 1, 2016.
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A municipal worker carries out fumigation to help control the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in Caracas, Venezuela on Jan. 28, 2016. While the virus is relatively harmless to most people, pregnant women or women trying to get pregnant are at high risk as the virus has been linked to microcephaly -- a neurological disorder resulting in the births of babies with small heads.
Ivan Alvarado/Reuters
A banner is seen during an information campaign on Zika virus by the Chilean Health Ministry at the departures area of Santiago's international airport in Chile on Jan. 28, 2016. The banner reads: "Zika virus, know before your trip. Use repellents on exposed areas. Use air conditioner or mosquito netting."
Photo By Mario Tama/Getty Images, Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters
Zika, the mosquito-borne virus that can cause severe birth defects in the infants of infected mothers, was declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization in February 2016. Most cases of the Zika virus have no symptoms, but if the infection is contracted during pregnancy, it can lead to severe birth defects characterized by an abnormally small and undeveloped brain. The virus is transmitted primarily through mosquito bites, but can also be transmitted through childbirth, sexual contact and blood transfusions. The Zika virus became a major obstacle associated with the 2016 Rio Olympics when many athletes and reporters opted out of participating due to concerns over the virus, which was prominent in Brazil at the time.
Ramon Espinosa/Ap Photo
People make their way through fumigation fog, sprayed to kill Aedes Aegypti mosquitos, in Pinar del Rio, Cuba on March 1, 2016. Authorities have increased the rate of fumigation in hopes of keeping the spread of the Zika virus at bay.
Felipe Dana/Ap Photo
Daniele Ferreira dos Santos holds her son Juan Pedro as he undergoes visual exams at the Altino Ventura foundation in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Santos was never diagnosed with Zika, but she blames the virus for her son's defect and for the terrible toll it has taken on her life.
Mariana Bazo/Reuters
A health worker fumigates a house as residents wait outside during a campaign against the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases at Carabayllo district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru.
Felipe Dana/Ap Photo
Tainara Lourenco, who is five months pregnant, sits inside her house at a slum in Recife, Brazil. Like many of the estimated 400,000 women currently pregnant in Brazil, she can?t afford mosquito repellent. The government has pledged to start providing repellent to low-income women and promises to deploy the Armed Forces to help eliminate Aedes? breeding places.
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Aedes aegypti mosquitos are seen in a lab at the Fiocruz institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil on Jan. 26, 2016. The mosquito transmits the Zika virus and is being studied extensively at the institute to find a stop to the deadly virus.
Jose Cabezas/Reuters
City workers fumigate the Jardines de Merliot neighbourhood as part of preventive measures against the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases in Santa Tecla, El Salvador on Jan. 29, 2016.
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Jaqueline Vieir (l.) watches as her 3-month-old son Daniel, who was born with microcephaly, undergoes physical therapy in Recife, Brazil, on Thursday.
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A Health Ministry employee fumigates against Aedes Aegypti mosquito, at a home in Caracas on Friday. Venezuela has recorded 4,700 suspected cases of people infected by the Zika virus, which is thought to cause brain damage in babies.
Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
Elizangela Marques, who is six months pregnant, poses for a picture at the IMIP hospital in Recife, Brazil, on Jan. 28, 2016. Worried about being infected by the fast-spreading mosquito-borne Zika virus during her pregnancy, Elizangela is awaiting the outcome of medical tests for Zika virus. Zika infection has been linked to an unprecedented surge in Brazil of cases of newborns with shrunken heads and brain damage. The epidemic of microcephaly has made many Brazilians think twice about getting pregnant.
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Alice Vitoria Gomes Bezerra, 3-months-old, who has microcephaly, is held by her mother Nadja Cristina Gomes Bezerra on January 31, 2016 in Recife, Brazil. In the last four months, authorities have recorded close to 4,000 cases in Brazil in which the mosquito-borne Zika virus may have led to microcephaly in infants. The ailment results in an abnormally small head in newborns and is associated with various disorders including decreased brain development. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Zika virus outbreak is likely to spread throughout nearly all the Americas.
Marco Bello/Reuters
A Venezuelan health worker fumigates the Valle slum to help control the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in Caracas on Jan. 28, 2016. Currently, there is no immunization against the virus that is causing it to spread as rapidly as it is. The presence of these mosquitos that can be found almost anywhere in the Americas (from Argentina to the South United States) is also contributing to the spread of the virus.
Marco Bello/Reuters
Insecticide smoke is seen billowing out of a chapel in Venezuela as health workers fumigate the Valle slum to help control the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in Caracas on Jan. 28, 2016.
JOSUE DECAVELE/REUTERS
A government campaign poster warns about Zika virus symptoms in the maternity ward in Guatemala on Thursday.
Mariana Bazo/Reuters
A model of a mosquito is exhibited during a campaign to raise awareness of preventing the entry of the Zika virus into the country, at the Health Ministry in Lima, Peru on Jan. 27, 2016. The Peruvian Health Ministry is organizing a campaign to help prevent the spread of the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases, a rapidly growing concern in most of South America.
Enrique De La Osa/Reuters
A military truck carries out fumigation in a neighborhood to stop the breeding of the dengue mosquito in Havana, Cuba on March 1, 2016. The first case of Zika virus has reached the country, diagnosed in a 28-year-old Venezuelan doctor who recently traveled back to her country.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Alice Vitoria Gomes Bezerra, 3-months-old, who has microcephaly, is held by her mother Nadja Cristina Gomes Bezerra sits on January 31, 2016 in Recife, Brazil. In the last four months, authorities in Recife, Brazil on Jan. 31, 2016. In the last four months, authorities have recorded close to 4,000 cases in Brazil in which the mosquito-borne Zika virus may have led to microcephaly in infants.
Felipe Dana/Ap Photo
Tainara Lourenco smiles as she chats with neighbors from the entrance of home at a slum in Recife, Brazil. Unemployed and five months pregnant, 21-year-old Lourenco lives in a slum at the epicenter of Brazil's tandem Zika and microcephaly outbreaks, the state of Pernambuco.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
In Brazil alone, more than 4,000 cases of microcephaly have been reported recently, all from women who were infected with Zika while pregnant. Although the virus is not a new thing, the severity, birth defects and rapid spread are. The mosquito-borne disease is in 23 countries and territories in the Americas, according to Chan. Here, Alice Vitoria Gomes Bezerra, a 3-month-old affected by microcephaly is held by her father in Recife, Brazil on Jan. 27, 2016.
Salvador Melendez/Ap Photo
Women wait their turn for their pre-natal exams at the National Hospital for Women in San Salvador, El Salvador on Jan. 29, 2016. In the Central American nation authorities have urged women to put off pregnancy for two years after it was reported that there may be a possible link between mosquito-borne Zika and microcephaly, in which infants are born with unusually small heads and can sometimes suffer mental retardation or a host of serious health and developmental problems.
Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
Renata Oliveira, who is nine months pregnant, poses for a picture at the IMIP hospital in Recife, Brazil on Jan. 28, 2016. Worried about being infected by the fast-spreading mosquito-borne Zika virus during her pregnancy, Renata doubled the fight against Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in her home.
Marvin Recinos/Afp/Getty Images
In the last four months, authorities have recorded close to 4,000 cases in Brazil in which the mosquito-borne Zika virus may have led to microcephaly in infants. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Zika virus outbreak is likely to spread throughout nearly all the Americas. At least twelve cases in the United States have now been confirmed by the CDC. Here, patients suffering from the Guillain-Barre syndrome, likely caused by the Zika virus, recover in the neurology ward of the Rosales National Hospital in San Salvador on Jan. 27, 2016.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
One of the terrible effects of the Zika virus has been found to cause birth defects in newborns called microcephaly, where the head is abnormally small and associated with decresed brain development. Here, Dr. Vanessa Van Der Linden, the neuro-pediatrician who first recognized and alerted authorities over the microcephaly crisis in Brazil, measures the head of a 2-month-old baby with microcephaly in Recife, Brazil. The baby's mother was diagnosed with having the Zika virus during her pregnancy.
Alvin Baez/Reuters
A worker stores abandoned tires at a temporary collection center in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to remove potential breeding spots for mosquitoes transmitting Zika and other mosquito-borne diseases on Jan. 27, 2016. Puerto Rico is to release a report on Zika cases on the island this week which will show that around 18 cases are confirmed, the U.S. territory's health secretary Ana Rius told reporters on Tuesday.
Orlando Sierra/Afp/Getty Images
A child remains at the Maternity and Children's hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras where there are 10,000 people infected with zika, 4,000 with dengue -one killed- and 4,000 with chikungunya.
Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
Geovane Silva holds his son Gustavo Henrique, who has microcephaly, at the Oswaldo Cruz Hospital in Recife, Brazil on Jan. 26, 2016. Health authorities in the Brazilian state at the center of a rapidly spreading Zika outbreak have been overwhelmed by the alarming surge in cases of babies born with microcephaly, a neurological disorder associated to the mosquito-borne virus.

PUBLISHED: January 29, 2016 at 7:47 a.m. | UPDATED: April 9, 2018 at 3:39 a.m.

A vaccine promising to turn Zika to zilch could be available for emergency use within the next year.

A Canadian developer of a Zika virus antidote offered the promising timetable as global health officials scrambled to contain the rapidly-spreading mosquito-borne disease.

U.S. officials had estimated that it would take several years before a vaccine would be widely available.

3RD CASE OF ZIKA VIRUS CONFIRMED IN NEW YORK CITY

Jaqueline Vieir (l.) watches as her 3-month-old son Daniel, who was born with microcephaly, undergoes physical therapy in Recife, Brazil, on Thursday.

“The first thing is to be ready for the worst,” scientist Gary Kobinger, who is leading an international team working on the vaccine, told Reuters.

“This vaccine is easy to produce. It could be cranked to very high levels in a really short time.”

Word of the new virus came as officials stressed that athletes competing at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil will be safe.

ZIKA VIRUS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The South American nation has been the hardest-hit of all the countries battling the disease.

Brazilian officials have confirmed more than 3,700 cases of microcephaly, a neurological condition linked to Zika that causes babies to be born with undeveloped brains and unusually small heads.

A government campaign poster warns about Zika virus symptoms in the maternity ward in Guatemala on Thursday.

In a bid to stave off mounting concerns, the International Olympic Committee sent a two-page note to all country committees outlining the latest medical advice concerning Zika.

“All parties are taking action to address this topic, and are following developments closely,” the IOC said.

Kobinger, who helped develop a trial vaccine that was successful in fighting Ebola in West Africa, did not say when the Zika antidote might be widely available.

A sterile female Aedes aegypti mosquito is seen on the forearm of a health technician in a research area to prevent the spread of Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases in Guatemala City.

Still, the potential for a breakthrough marked a rare dose of good news after a week consumed by ominous warnings about the disease.

The World Health Organization has said that Zika is spreading “explosively” and could infect up to four million people across the Americas.

A total of three New Yorkers — including a pregnant woman — have contracted the disease while traveling abroad, officials said.

A Health Ministry employee fumigates against Aedes Aegypti mosquito, at a home in Caracas on Friday. Venezuela has recorded 4,700 suspected cases of people infected by the Zika virus, which is thought to cause brain damage in babies.

American health officials have conceded that there’s been little research on Zika despite it being first identified in 1947.

“This is a brand new virus, so we, prior to this time, have not spent anything on Zika,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Fauci said his researchers are working on two vaccines — but neither is likely to be available within the next few years.

“While these approaches are promising, it is important to understand we will not have a widely available safe and effective Zika vaccine this year and probably not in the next few years, Fauci said.”

With News Wire Services