Zika plasma viral dynamics in nonhuman primates provides insights into early infection and antiviral strategies

Significance In light of the recent outbreak of Zika virus (ZIKV), an understanding of the within-host viral dynamics is essential to assess persistence in vivo, transmission risk, and antiviral therapeutics. Using mathematical modeling we find that, in nonhuman primates, the viral dynamics of ZIKV are characterized by a short lifetime of infected cells (<10 h) during which enough viral particles are produced to infect ∼11 other cells. Higher disease burden is associated with changes in natural killer cell subset concentrations and with elevated expression of the cytokine MCP-1, although the mechanisms behind these associations remain unclear. In order for an antiviral treatment to effectively reduce the time to plasma viral clearance therapy should be initiated at the time of infection or given prophylactically.