Abstract

ZIKA VIRUS: THE HORRIBLE THREAT

Rajeev Kumar Varma*, Piyush Yadav, Swarup J. Chatterjee, Akash Kumar Singh, Riya Yadav

ABSTRACT

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a virus of family Flaviviridae. It is transmitted by the bite of Aedes mosquitoes (A. aegypti and A. albopictus). Zika virus causes the dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, and West Nile viruses. It was first identified in April 1947 from a rhesus macaque monkey that had been placed in a cage in the Zika Forest of Uganda, by the scientists of the Yellow Fever Research Institute. The evidence of human infection with Zika was reported from other African countries, such as the Central African Republic, Egypt, Gabon, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Uganda, as well as in parts of Asia including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan. There were only 14 confirmed human cases of Zika virus infections from Africa and Southeast Asia till 2007. In January 2016, the WHO said the Zika virus was likely to spread throughout most of the Americas by the end of the year. It is estimated that 1.5 million people have been infected by Zika in Brazil, with over 3,500 cases of microcephaly reported between October 2015 and January 2016. Zika virus is also transmitted from men and women to their sexual partners, transmission through blood transfusions. The Zika virus can also spread from an infected mother to her fetus during pregnancy or at delivery. Bharat Biotech International (India) is working on vaccines for Zika virus currently.

Keywords: Zika virus; Aedes mosquitoes; Microcephaly; Dengue; Yellow fever.