Pregnant women, and their fetal offspring, are uniquely susceptible to Zika virus and other microbial pathogens capable of congenital fetal infection. Unavoidable exposure to Zika virus in endemic areas underscores the need for identifying at-risk individuals, and protecting expecting mothers and their fetal offspring against prenatal infection. Here we show that primary Zika virus asymptomatic infection in mice confers protection against re-infection, and that these protective benefits are maintained during pregnancy. Zika virus recovery was sharply reduced in maternal tissues and amongst fetal concepti after prenatal challenge in mothers with resolved subclinical infection prior to pregnancy compared with mice undergoing primary prenatal infection. These benefits coincide with expanded accumulation of viral-specific antibodies in maternal serum and fetal tissues that protect against infection by the identical or heterologous Zika virus genotype strains. Thus, preconceptual infection primes Zika virus-specific antibodies that confer cross-genotype protection against re-infection during pregnancy.

孕妇及其胎儿后代对Zika病毒和其他能够引起先天性胎儿感染的微生物病原体具有独特的敏感性。在流行地区不可避免地暴露于寨卡病毒，这凸显了识别高危人群的必要性，并保护准妈妈及其胎儿后代免受产前感染。在这里，我们显示小鼠中的原发性寨卡病毒无症状感染赋予了防止再次感染的保护，并且这些保护作用在怀孕期间得以保持。与原发性产前感染的小鼠相比，妊娠前亚临床感染已解决的母亲在产前攻击后在母体组织和胎儿概念中的寨卡病毒回收率急剧下降。这些益处与病毒特异性抗体在母体血清和胎儿组织中的积累积累相吻合，这些特异性抗体可防止相同或异源寨卡病毒基因型菌株感染。因此，概念前感染引发了寨卡病毒特异性抗体，这些抗体赋予交叉基因型保护以防止怀孕期间再次感染。