Historical Trend and Epidemiology of Zika Virus

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a flavivirus related to yellow fever, dengue, West Nile, and Japanese encephalitis viruses. In 2007, ZIKV caused an outbreak of relatively mild disease characterized by rash, arthralgia, and conjunctivitis on Yap Island in the southwestern Pacific Islands. Zika virus trend infection has been confirmed in several infants with microcephaly and in fetal losses in women infected during pregnancy. The virus can be prevented and controlled by sleeping under a treated mosquito net to protect you from mosquito bites. This was the first time that ZIKV was detected outside of Africa and Asia. The history, transmission dynamics, virology, and clinical manifestations of ZIKV disease are discussed, along with the possibility for diagnostic confusion between ZIKV illness and dengue. The emergence of ZIKV outside of its previously known geographic range should prompt awareness of the potential for ZIKV to spread to other Pacific islands and the Americas.