The Emergence of Zika Virus
Kathryn B. Andersona b c d e, Stephen James Thomasa b c d e, Timothy P. Endya b c d e
- aFrom the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- bU.S. Army Medical Directorate–Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Bangkok, Thailand
- cWalter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, Maryland; and State University of New York, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York
- dState University of New York, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York
- eWalter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, Maryland
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Abstract
Zika virus (ZIKV) is yet another arbovirus that is rapidly emerging on a global scale, on the heels of a chikungunya epidemic in the Americas that began in 2013. A ZIKV epidemic that began in Brazil in 2015 has now spread rapidly to more than 30 countries in the Americas and the Caribbean, infecting more than 2 million inhabitants. This epidemic currently continues unabated. The explosive nature of recent outbreaks and concerning links to Guillain-Barré syndrome and microcephaly are incompletely understood. Also unknown is the relative importance of sexual transmission of ZIKV and asymptomatic ZIKV infections to the overall burden of transmission. The limited understanding of ZIKV presents an enormous challenge for responses to this rapidly emerging threat to human health. This article reviews the existing literature on ZIKV and proposes critical questions for vaccine development and other areas of needed research.
TL;DRThere is evidence that maternal ZIKV infection at any stage of pregnancy may result in an increased risk for microcephaly, intrauterine growth restriction, and fetal death, and there is evidence of sexual transmission of ZikV by men, with virus detectable in semen by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for at least 2 months after infection. (Semantic Scholar)