As the Zika virus has gained a foothold in Miami, Florida the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a field test of a genetically modified mosquito to help combat the virus.

The engineered Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were created by Oxitec Ltd. as a means to control the diseases that the insect typically carries. The male members of the modified line are designed to transmit a fatal gene when it mates with a female. The gene kills the offspring, which will help reduce the larger population of this particular species.

The FDA found that the test would "not have significant impacts on the environment"

Earlier this year, the FDA gave …

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As the CDC issues travel warnings for Miami, Florida, the National Institutes of Health are set to begin the first human trials for an experimental vaccine for Zika. Last week, Florida health officials identified four cases of the Zika virus that were likely transmitted by mosquitoes, which will make efforts to combat the illness even more difficult.

The first human trials for the vaccine will take place in Maryland and Georgia, according to Technology Review, and will involve 80 people in four study groups who will be injected with the vaccine and monitored for the next two years. Earlier this year, the DNA vaccine was proven to be effective …

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A new diagnostic tool could make detecting Zika infection in patients much easier and cheaper in remote areas of Latin and Central America. The new technology was developed by several universities, including MIT, Harvard, University of Toronto, and Cornell University, and it will be presented tomorrow at the 68th AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo in Philadelphia.

Though several diagnostics tools already exist to detect the virus, the new tool does stand out for how portable and cheap it is. The diagnostic test, which was described in a study published in May in the journal Cell, allows medical professionals to test a sample …

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a travel warning for Wynwood, a neighborhood in Miami where 14 people have been infected with mosquito-borne transmissions of the Zika virus. At the request of Florida Governor Rick Scott, the CDC is sending an Emergency Response Team to Miami to assist in the investigation and response effort.

"I have requested that the CDC activate their Emergency Response Team to assist DOH in their investigation, research and sample collection efforts," said Governor Scott in a statement. "Their team will consist of public health experts whose role is to augment our response efforts to confirmed …

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For the first time, the Zika virus might have been transmitted from mosquitoes to humans inside the United States, according to Florida Governor Rick Scott. Scott confirmed that four cases under investigation in his state were not brought in from outside the country.

The four cases, which occurred in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, were "the result of local transmission," and are "likely mosquito-borne," according to the Florida Department of Health. However, health officials have yet to locate mosquitoes infected with the virus, and have yet to rule out sexual transmission of the virus.

If the virus was transmitted by mosquito, it would …

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Scientists have successfully infected a group of rhesus macaque monkeys with Zika, marking the first time that non-human primates have been shown to be susceptible to the mosquito-borne virus. That's good news for researchers, as it potentially opens up a new animal model to study Zika. Scientists could use the monkeys to trace how the virus spreads and test new vaccines or treatments on the animals.

The pregnant animals remained infected longer

Specifically, scientists infected eight macaques with an Asian strain of the Zika virus, according to a new paper published in Nature Communications. This strain of the virus is very closely related …

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Scientists have found two potential vaccine candidates that may help combat the Zika virus. A single shot of each vaccine was shown to completely protect mice against two strains of the mosquito-borne disease, according to a new paper published in the journal Nature. These shots still need to be tested on humans, but the researchers are hopeful that either could eventually prove to be a safe and effective Zika vaccine.

"The protection was striking."

"These two vaccine candidates both provided complete protection against Zika virus challenge in mice," said study author Dan Barouch, a virologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harva …

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