Early dengue virus infection could ‘defuse’ zika virus

The Zika virus outbreak in Latin America has affected over 60 million people up to now. The infection can have potentially fatal consequences for pregnant women and their unborn children: many children have subsequently been born with malformations of the head (microcephaly). A particularly high incidence of these Zika-associated malformations exists in northeastern Brazil. Scientists tried to find out the reasons for this regional cluster and discovered a surprising protective factor.