Scientists believe they are on the cusp of developing a vaccine to protect people from the Zika virus, reports Daily Mail.

Two new studies released today have identified antibodies that halt the infection by binding strongly to it.

The first, by the Washington University School of Medicine, studied antibodies from the Zika virus itself which successfully neutralized African, Asian and American strains of the infection.

Meanwhile University of North Carolina scientists examined antibodies produced by survivors of dengue fever, a similar mosquito-borne virus.

Both discoveries have been hailed as some the most precise investigations into Zika to date as the virus sweeps the world - and threatens to infect millions more before the epidemic burns out.

They have emerged just a day after the US Health Department started the first human trials of another experimental vaccine.

The first study by the Washington University School of Medicine was published in the journal Cell.

It identified six antibodies that bound strongly to Zika virus, and the precise spot on the virus that the antibodies recognized.