“…Cardinal features of ZIKV, of critical clinical importance are that (i) it is transmitted by a mosquito bite but can also be transmitted sexually, (ii) it is able to actively cross the placental barrier and replicate in the placenta, and (iii) it can disseminate to the fetus and its developing brain, where it leads to severe neurodevelopmental defects, in particular in the developing cortex, resulting in microcephaly. Studies of cell and tissue samples from infected humans, as well as experimentally infected NHP and mouse lines, have shown that ZIKV infects a wide variety of tissues and cells, including the skin (human dermal fibroblasts, epidermal keratinocytes, and immature dendritic cells) (Hamel et al, 2015), the testis (Leydig cells, sertoli cells, spermatogonia) (Govero et al, 2016; Ma et al, 2016), vaginal epithelium and uterine fibroblasts (Yockey et al, 2016; Chen et al, 2016), placenta (trophoblasts, endothelial cells, Hofbauer cells) (Noronha et al, 2016; El Costa et al, 2016; Simoni et al, 2017; Quicke et al, 2016), and the brain (cortical progenitors, mature neurons and astrocytes) (Gabriel et al, 2017; Li et al, 2017; Qian et al, 2016; Tang et al, 2016; Xu et al, 2016; Brault et al, 2016). It may also infect the eye (Ganglion cells, bipolar neurons, the optic nerve, cornea) and be found in body fluids including tears, saliva, semen, cervical mucus and urine (Miner et al, 2016a; Barzon et al, 2016; Zambrano et al, 2017).…”