Previous exposure to dengue as a risk factor for Zika during pregnancy

Project Narrative Infection with Zika virus (ZIKV) during pregnancy has been implicated as the cause of a number of adverse consequences for the developing neonate, including mirocephaly. It has been speculated that coinfections of ZIKV and closely related dengue virus (DENV) might be interacting to cause the high incidence of particularly severe birth defects in Brazil. No studies have evaluated the potential for pre-existing DENV immunity to en- hance subsequent ZIKV infection during pregnancy; therefore, through this project we will use the nonhuman primate as a tractable, laboratory model to begin to understand whether the severity of maternal and fetal ZIKV increases in pregnant, dengue-immune individuals.