CHIKV

Chikungunya is an infection caused by the chikungunya virus (CHIKV). This is spread by a mosquito, like Zika and dengue.  The most common symptoms of this virus are joint pain along with a fever. It can become very severe leading to severe headaches, swelling of limbs and even death. There are recent outbreaks in the United States, but this virus is primarily spread in parts of Africa, the Caribbean’s and India. Researchers from the University of Bristol and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Grenoble, France, have come together and created a vaccine that can withstand very warm temperatures.  They worked with a synthetic protein scaffold with no genetic material inside that is still extremely stable, even without refrigeration. Additionally, it can be easily engineered which is a great step in the medical industry. The greatest part about their discovery is that they can insert harmless bits of the Chikungunya to generate a mimic to further use as a vaccine. Although they are still figuring out the logistics of it, computers and technology have helped them create a digital model of the vaccine. Intriguingly, because of this great beginning to fight again CHIKV, they can now rapidly engineer similar vaccines that can combat many other infectious diseases.