Earlier this year, the Washington University team developed a mouse model of ZIKV infection and demonstrated that peripheral visceral replication of ZIKV is inhibited by the type I interferon response4. In mice lacking the IFN α/β receptor 1 (Ifnar1−/−), ZIKV infection in adult, non-pregnant mice was associated with neurological destruction, accompanied by high levels of the virus in the brain and spinal cord, as well as in the spleen, testes and serum. The Ifnar1−/− mice succumbed to ZIKV infection, as did a triple knockout mouse strain that also lacked INFα and INFβ.