The Zika virus has been at the forefront of American minds, ever since news of an outbreak in Brazil reached the U.S.
There's a lot of information out there about the disease, and also a lot of misinformation.
To spread the right info, USC is hosting a Zika symposium Thursday at their Health Sciences campus.
Jae Jung organized the event. He's chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Keck School of Medicine, and he talked with Josie Huang about why he felt it was necessary to host a symposium about Zika in LA.
(Answers have been edited for clarity.)
Interview highlights
Why is it necessary to hold a symposium on the Zika virus now?
"I got a lot of requests, regarding the Zika virus. I found that the public wants to directly hear from experts regarding safety or prevention...And especially summer time is coming and temperature raise, so mosquitoes are going to arrive, number one. Number two, it's vacation time so now people will travel."
Why host the symposium in L.A.?
"Los Angeles is the second largest city, nearly every single day there are millions of people in and out of LAX and number of ships arriving, so for us we call Los Angeles: gateway of germs."
On finding a vaccine:
"Based on the...CDC and NIH, both are government institutes, they report that they'll start clinical trials next year. So, I'm sure that the vaccine will be available by around this time of next year, or maybe a little bit later."
To hear the full interview, click the blue play button above.