UW-Madison scientists working to screen mosquitoes for ability to carry, transmit Zika virus

It's no accident that researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have taken a lead role addressing the Zika virus epidemic gripping the Americas. Many of them were already at work fighting viruses and mosquito-borne diseases in Central and South America.

David O'Connor, a pathology professor, first learned of babies born with severe birth defects from his HIV research collaborators in Brazil. Jorge Osorio, professor of pathobiological sciences, and Matt Aliota, a research scientist, were first to identify Zika virus circulating in Colombia.

Adding expertise in obstetrics, virology, radiology and public health from UW-Madison's rare breadth of scientific expertise, the researchers are now working to screen mosquitoes for the ability to carry Zika virus and infect humans, and to use a harmless bacterium to block mosquito transmission of the virus. They are studying Zika infection in monkeys to describe the progression of infection and its dire consequences in pregnancy. And they're sharing their findings with public health officials and scientists around the world to speed our path to the best vaccines, treatments and strategies to arrest Zika's spread.