In some cases, getting dengue may protect against Zika
What happened in a hard-hit Brazilian slum suggests timing of dengue infections may matter
Previous infections with dengue virus may have protected some people in an urban slum in Brazil from getting Zika.
In a study of more than 1,400 people in the Pau da Lima area of Salvador, those with higher levels of antibodies against a particular dengue virus protein were at lower risk of contracting Zika, researchers report in the Feb. 8 Science. “The higher the antibody, the higher the protection,” says Albert Ko, an infectious disease physician and epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health.