© La Real noticia
© La Real noticia

Commission dedicates €10m to Zika research

The European Commission will dedicate €10m from its Horizon 2020 budget to research on the Zika virus currently ravaging Latin America.

The money will go towards proving the link between Zika and the severe brain malformations found in newborns first suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO). If proven, researchers will then be able to move on to combatting the virus, including developing diagnostics and testing potential treatments or vaccines.

This research could prove crucial in helping public health authorities prevent further spreading and reduce the risks to pregnant women.

“This funding will enable urgently needed research on the emerging global threat of the Zika virus. This shows once again that we are ready to face new epidemics like Zika with fast and effective research,” said research commissioner Carlos Moedas.

The funding will complement a number of other research initiatives currently funded under Horizon 2020 that can aid in the fight against Zika. These include a €40m call for research on vaccine development for malaria and neglected infectious diseases, as well as a €10m topic on research infrastructures for the control of vector-borne diseases which could go a long way towards combatting the mosquitos that spread Zika and a number of other prevalent diseases.

The EU is also co-funding research on the prevention of infectious diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean under the ERANET programme.

Some 41 countries have reported cases of native Zika virus infection over the past nine months, most of them in Latin America. In February the WHO declared it a ‘public health emergency of international concern’.

“A number of EU citizens have returned from the affected areas with the Zika virus. The commission is carefully monitoring the situation and, as the summer approaches, is working closely together with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the WHO and member states to put in place all necessary measures to ensure that the response to the virus is coherent and well co-ordinated,” said health commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis.

According to the latest assessment by the ECDC, the risk to the EU remains extremely low.