A team of researchers at the Biosecurity Research Institute at Kansas State University is working on finding a possible vaccine to the Zika virus.
The team, made up of half a dozen researchers, has been working with mosquitoes in containment laboratories and breeding the bugs in controlled environments.
“We have the containment capabilities and trained staff to do this type of research safely and securely," explained Dr. Stephen Higgs, who is helping to lead the research project.
Behind security gates, closed doors and rooms across several floors, the team of researchers has been conducting tedious work to learn more about the virus.
Among other things, the research team has gathered mosquito saliva and studied it in hopes of eventually finding a vaccine.
“It's important to the nation and world what we're doing," said Dr. Higgs.
During an exclusive tour with 41 Action News, Dr. Higgs showed off the labs used in the research.
“We let that door close, and then we go through this plastic curtain," said Dr. Higgs, while leading the group inside a room below the first floor of the research facility. “This is where we’re breeding mosquitoes. This is an environmental chamber."
Dr. Higgs opened a large chamber, filled with containers holding mosquitoes.
Inside the boxes, mosquitoes fed on goat blood-soaked dental gauze.
One box, containing Aedes aegypti, is being used directly for the Zika research.
The Aedes aegypti, a mosquito species capable of carrying Zika, are virus-free inside the laboratory Dr. Higgs showed.
After about three weeks, they will then be taken to a laboratory closed off to public access.
Inside the containment laboratory, researchers work directly with the Zika virus to learn more about it.
“We count every single one of [the mosquitoes],” said Dr. Higgs. “When they go in, we count them as long as they're alive. We count them when they're dead."
The containment room, which can be accessed by using special security codes, presents obvious dangers.
Before every visit, the team of researchers must undress, sterilize themselves, and change into laboratory-specific uniforms.
Upon completion of an experiment, the researchers must shower and use a strict order of exit procedures.
While working with the Zika virus presents obvious dangers, Dr. Higgs said the team pays close attention to detail.
“You have to have total confidence that you're not putting [other people] at risk and we know we're not,” he explained.
The half dozen researchers have undergone intense training, interviews, and background checks to be a part of the team.
“We know a lot about [the researchers],” said Dr. Higgs during a tour of a training laboratory. “The most important thing obviously is knowing that they're capable."
As the researchers continue their work at the facility, Dr. Higgs knows it will take time before a vaccine is discovered and finished.
“It's not just a question of do [vaccines] protect you against becoming infected, they have to be safe as well,” he said. “Those safety tests can take a long time. We're not talking days or weeks, we're talking potentially years."
According to the Centers for Disease Control, around two dozen travel-related cases of Zika have been reported in Kansas and Missouri.
Pregnant women and women who may become pregnant are the ones most at risk of seeing dangerous side effects, including microcephaly, which can lead to small heads for babies and under-developed brains.
Symptoms of Zika virus include:
- Raised rash
- Fever
- Muscle aches
- Red eyes
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Tom Dempsey can be reached at Tom.Dempsey@KSHB.com.
