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Speed read New study helps understand effects of Zika virus on foetal brain development Vaccine progress continues, despite COVID-19 challenge But Aedes aegypti is adapting to new environments Zika virus can hamper vital collagen development in the brains of babies whose mothers were infected with the disease while pregnant, new research reveals, as the search for a vaccine continues. The research shows that a vaccine that aims to neutralise mature Zika virus particles could be effective, says co-author Ted Pierson, chief of the Laboratory of Viral Diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States. The mosquito is moving faster than epidemiologists expected and there are smaller outbreaks occurring in southern parts of Brazil. “Since Zika is not an endemic disease in these regions, the population has no natural defences against it,” Spilki warns.
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Speed read Nisia Trindade Lima is the first female Fiocruz president in its 120-year history Her work is currently focused on the development of the COVID-19 vaccine in Brazil ‘Profound cultural change’ needed to ensure gender equality, she says As Brazil reels from the impact of COVID-19, a “profound cultural change” is needed to stop women bearing the brunt of the crisis, says the head of biomedical research institute Fiocruz. At Fiocruz, gender inequality still manifests itself in institutional leadership positions: we still have few women in top roles — there are about 30 per cent in top management positions — so there is a lot to be done, especially in understanding the place of women, which in pandemic times becomes even more acute. Fiocruz’s main challenge now is to get the core activities that define us — research, education, well-structured information systems, access to data and vaccine production — and merge them into a synergic and integrated vision.
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Speed read Legislative changes in Brazil have ‘weakened environmental regulations’ Legal deregulation peaked at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, study found Brazilian society, scientists and media may have mitigated the damage Environmental progress in Brazil looks set to be one of the casualties of COVID-19, with harmful changes to the law being pushed through while attention is diverted by the global pandemic, a study warns. Since January 2019, the Brazilian government approved 57 pieces of legislation that effectively weaken national environmental laws, the study published in Biological Conservation found. Researchers also analysed monthly deforestation rates provided by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) of Brazil, and fines associated with illegal deforestation, issued by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA). According to INPE, deforestation in the Amazon was 9.5 per cent higher between August 2019 and July 2020 than between August 2018 and July 2019 – making it the highest level of annual deforestation since 2008.
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Speed read Manaus variant spreads faster and could carry higher risk of infection Researchers believe new variant spread from Brazil to Asia Fast, widespread vaccination is best way to slow down mutations A new variant of the virus that causes COVID-19, identified in Brazil, is likely more transmissible than its parent strain because of mutations in the spike protein, according to researchers. The more it mutates, the more abundant it becomes,” Renato Aguiar, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil The health system in Manaus, capital of the northern Brazilian state of Amazonas, has collapsed for a second time amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported this month, with insufficient oxygen supplies leaving some hospitals unable to ventilate patients. The researcher added that the ‘spike’ is the most important protein in the development of vaccines because the virus uses it as a gateway to infect human cells.