In:

Neglected Tropical Diseases

Authors:

Oumar Faye, Caio C. M. Freire, Atila Iamarino, Ousmane Faye, Juliana Velasco C. de Oliveira, Mawlouth Diallo, Paolo M. A. Zanotto, Amadou Alpha Sall

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus, a member of the Spondweni serocomplex, whose natural transmission cycle involves mainly vectors from the Aedes genus (A. furcifer, A. taylori, A. luteocephalus and A. africanus) and monkeys [1], while humans are occasional hosts. Clinical pictures range from asymptomatic cases to an influenza-like syndrome associated to fever, headache, malaise and cutaneous rash [2,3]. Likewise, direct contact is also considered a potential route of transmission among humans, probably during sexual intercourse [4]. The first isolation of ZIKV was in 1947 from the blood of a sentinel Rhesus monkey No. 766, stationed in the Zika forest, near the Lake Victoria in Uganda, and in 1948 ZIKV was also isolated in the same forest from a pool of A. africanus mosquitoes [5]. Thereafter, serological and entomological data indicated ZIKV infections in the African continent in Nigeria in 1971 and 1975 [6], Sierra Leone in 1972 [7], Gabon in 1975 [8], Uganda in 1969 and 1970 [9], Central African Republic in 1979 [10], Senegal from 1988 to 1991 [11] and Coˆte d’Ivoire in 1999 [12]. Recently, ZIKV was detected in Senegal in 2011 and 2012 (unpublished data). In addition, ZIKV infections in Asia were reported in Pakistan [13], Malaysia [14], Indonesia in 1977 and 1978 [15], Micronesia in 2007 [16,17] and Cambodia in 2010 [18]. Although ZIKV was repeatedly isolated, only 14 human cases were reported before April 2007, when a Zika fever (ZF) epidemic occurred in Yap island in Micronesia, where 49 confirmed cases and 73% of the residents older than 3 years provided serologic evidence for recent ZIKV infection [16]. This outbreak showcased the potential of ZF as an emerging disease, which could be misdiagnosed as dengue fever, as happened during the beginning of the Micronesian outbreak [16,17].

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