PhD in Medicine

Zika Virus (ZIKV) has emerged as a new mosquito-borne threat to public health after the devastating South American outbreak. In addition, related viruses such as dengue virus (DENV) and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) already cause many millions of infections every year and are continuing to spread as climate change and globalization increase the range of their mosquito and tick arthropod vectors; the first cases of TBEV have now been reported in the UK.Treating ZIKV and other “Arboviruses” (arthropod-borne) is hampered by the existence of only a small number of available vaccines (e.g. yellow fever) and a complete lack of antiviral drugs. This means that severe disease following such infections can only be combatted using supportive care, and complications such as neonatal microcephaly (ZIKV), life-threatening encephalitis (TBEV) and haemorrhagic syndromes (DENV) remain unchecked.