Upstate Medical to use nearly $200,000 in NSF funding to fight Zika virus

Upstate Medical University will use almost $200,000 in grant funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to “treat, prevent and understand” the Zika virus.

Researchers plan to share final data and conclusions as “rapidly and widely” as possible, U.S. Senators Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) said in a recent news release that Schumer’s office issued to announce the grant funding.

Upstate Medical wants to provide results that will be “relevant to the Zika public-health emergency,” according to the news release.

Schumer had recently visited the medical school to call for $1.9 billion in emergency federal funding to fight the epidemic nationally and internationally.

The researchers are working on a project called “RAPID: In-situ Zika-vector-climate dynamics in a high burden region in Ecuador,” according to the lawmakers’ news release.

The effort will enable researchers to determine the prevalence of the Zika virus co-infections in humans and mosquitoes, in addition to any climatic factors that could be affecting disease transmission.

It will also look at ways in which other species of mosquitoes might be able to transmit Zika.

The study will look at the spread of Zika through a “naïve” population and ways to control the spread of Zika in other locales, including the continental U.S.

“With so many women and families across Central New York looking for action, it is critical we find ways to treat, prevent and better understand Zika virus — and fast. This is an emerging global health crisis and, when it comes to fighting this epidemic, a stitch in time will save nine. This desperately needed federal funding will allow the global health leaders at SUNY Upstate, who are ready to assist, look at ways we can stymie the spread of this tragic disease,” Schumer said in the release.

Zika and mosquitoes
Zika virus is spread to people through mosquito bites, according to the news release.

Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on a person who has already been infected by the virus.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito species, which have been found in Florida and Hawaii, have spread most of the cases, the lawmakers said.

The Asian Tiger mosquito is also known to transmit the virus; these types of mosquitoes have been found in New York and Chicago.

Thousands of infants in Brazil have already been born with microcephaly — a medical condition where the brain doesn’t develop properly and the child’s head is smaller than normal — since last spring.

More than 1,000 Americans have been infected with the Zika Virus, including about 100 pregnant women, in 44 states, Washington, D.C., and 3 U.S. territories.

New York state has had at least 89 confirmed travel-related cases.

“The imminent threat of Zika to the [U.S.] is deeply troubling; this funding through the National Science Foundation would facilitate much needed resources to help advance SUNY Upstate Medical University’s research into how to prevent the spread of the Zika Virus,” Gillibrand said in the news release. “I am an original co-sponsor of legislation to provide an additional $1.9 billion federal investment in combatting the Zika virus. I will continue to push for this emergency funding to support efforts in accelerating the development of screening, treatment, and prevention methods in order to combat the future spread of the virus.”

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com