Zika virus sparks pharmaceutical gold rush as firms race to produce vaccine

New York

BEFORE it became known as a deadly virus, Zika was just a lush forest on the north shores of Lake Victoria, a quiet sanctuary across from Tanzania and its gold mines.

These days, the virus has sparked a gold rush of its own: companies are touting products from vaccines not even tried in mice to devices that filter Zika from the blood - leaving public health experts to determine which proposals can help halt the mosquito-borne disease's explosive spread.