Devastating consequences of Zika virus infection are suffered in the womb, where the virus can cause brain damage and sometimes death.Studying pregnant mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, United States (U.S.), have learned that the Zika virus infects the fetus by manipulating the body’s normal barrier to infection. Moreover, they showed that a malaria drug that interferes with this process protects the fetus from viral infection. That drug already is approved for use in pregnant women for other medical purposes.

“We found that the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine effectively blocks viral transmission to the fetus,” said senior author Indira Mysorekar, PhD, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and of pathology and immunology. “This drug already is used in pregnant women to treat malaria, and we suggest that it warrants evaluation in primates and women to diminish the risks of Zika infection and disease in developing fetuses.”

Black men may have similar risk of coronary heart disease as white men, but their first cardiac event is twice as likely to be fatal. That means preventing a first heart attack is even more crucial for blacks, according to research findings reported in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.

In an analysis that examined cardiac events in three major heart studies, researchers found that in two of these studies, black adults aged 45-64 have about twice the risk of fatal events compared with whites. The same is true for older individuals, with less pronounced differences. The study found that this high risk may be due to cardiovascular risk factors and the conditions in which people are born, grow, work and live — known as social determinants of health.