Zika virus: a new pandemic threat

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging arbovirus of the Flaviviridae family and is related to dengue, Chikungunya, West Nile, yellow fever, and Japanese encephalitis viruses. ZIKV was first discovered in Uganda in 1947. Different species of mosquito from the Aedes genus, mainly A. aegypti and A. albopictus are the vectors responsible for ZIKV infection in humans. It is also reported that ZIKV is transmitted congenitally, sexually, and through blood donation. Until recently, ZIKV outbreaks were sporadic and self-limiting. The first large epidemic was reported from Yap Island in 2007 followed by an outbreak of Zika fever in French Polynesia in 2013. Brazil is the epicenter of the current ZIKV epidemic which is rapidly spreading across the Americas. ZIKV infection remained relatively less studied in view of its low case numbers, and low clinical impact relative to other arboviruses. However, all this is set to change with its rapid spread in the Western hemisphere and suspected complications particularly microcephaly in newborn babies with ZIKV infected mothers. ZIKV is expected to substantially add to both shortterm and long-term economic burden of the effected countries. Due to the large number of people travelling across the borders and some reported cases of transmission of ZIKV via contaminated blood, screening and identification of asymptomatic infected individuals are important.

Attomolar Zika virus oligonucleotide detection based on loop-mediated isothermal amplification and AC susceptometry

“…Laboratory diagnostics of ZIKV are based mainly on the analysis of serum, by using viral RNA and/or antibody based detection methods (Haug et al, 2016;Al-Qahtani et al, 2016). Due to serological cross-reactivity among flaviviruses in IgM-antibody based assays, diagnostics based on molecular testing are considered more reliable (Haug et al, 2016).…”

Zika virus infection, associated microcephaly, and low yellow fever vaccination coverage in Brazil: is there any causal link?

“…Antibody cross-reactivity is known to occur between different flavivírus infections, such as yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, and dengue fever [13,14], and in a historical study, a volunteer infected with ZIKV virus produced antibodies against both yellow fever virus and ZIKV [15].…”

Zika virus – emergence, evolution, pathology, diagnosis, and control: current global scenario and future perspectives – a comprehensive review

“…Use of sterile male mosquitoes of A. aegypti in the Grand Cayman (first experiment of its kind) resulted in around 80% reduction in the population of wild mosquito (Harris et al 2012). Oxitec released in a trial in Piracicaba, Brazil, an engineered mosquitoe with 'self-limiting' gene that halts the reproduction of other mosquitoes by not allowing their offsprings to develope into adult mosquitoes, revealed 82% larval reduction during last year (Al-Qahtani et al 2016).…”