A super-vaccine to prevent both Zika and dengue fever is on the horizon after scientists found that the viruses can be neutralised by the same antibodies.

Antibodies work by combining with bacteria and viruses so that the immune system knows what to attack. They also carry a memory of the invader to stop it coming back.

But because Zika was not believed to be a dangerous virus until recently scientists have not yet managed to isolate the antibodies needed to produce a vaccine.

However now researchers at the Pasteur Institute in France have found that antibodies generated from people infected with dengue can bind with zika to prevent infection.

A vaccine for dengue was recently approved for use by the World Health Organisation so it is possible that it may also protect against zika.

Felix Rey said: “What we found was that an antibody against dengue can very potently neutralize Zika virus as well.

“An individual will make antibodies against zika virus when infected by zika but nobody worked in isolating antibodies against zika virus until now, because it was not considered a dangerous virus.

“It is only now that everybody is paying attention to Zika virus, but nobody yet has antibodies against Zika virus.”