What is the Zika Virus?

Today, we'll answer some very important questions:

What is the Zika Virus?

How is it spread?

What are the symptoms?

Are there vaccines available?

 

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 The word "Zika" comes comes from the "Zika Forest in Uganda" where in 1947, it was first isolated!

"Zika virus is related to dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, and West Nile viruses" [Jgid.org]

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So, how is it spread?

It's actually spread by daytime Aedes Mosquitoes!

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Expanding on what I previously said, it was first documented to be found in Uganda - on monkeys, but then, in 1960 the first human case was found in Nigeria!

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It can also be transferred from:

• Sexually active men to their partners
• Pregnant women to the foetus 
• Through blood transfusion

Did you know:

• Zika replicates in the mosquito's midgut epithelial cells and then its salivary gland cells. 
• After 5–10 days, ZIKV can be found in the mosquito’s saliva, which can then infect humans. 
• If the mosquito’s saliva is inoculated into human skin, the virus can infect epidermal keratinocytes, skin fibroblasts in the skin and the Langerhans cells. 
• The pathogenesis of the virus is hypothesized to continue with a spread to lymph nodes and the bloodstream.^{[Field's Virology Book][Journal of Infection]} 
• Flaviviruses generally replicate in the cytoplasm, but Zika antigens have been found in infected cell nuclei.^{[Microbiology Research]}

 Symptoms?

If you can't read that, it says: fever, pale, skin rash, muscle pain, arthralgia, headache, diarrhoea, and red eyes!

Here's an example of the Zika Virus Rash:

It's also known to cause microcephaly:

"A baby with microcephaly (left) compared to a baby with a typical head size" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcephaly

Vaccines?

 As of March 2016, 18 companies and institutions internationally were developing vaccines against Zika, but none had yet reached clinical trials.^{[WHO Report]}

But, within the rest of the flaviviridae family, there are several vaccines availible. Have you ever been vaccinated for yellow fever? That's one of them!

It's been reported that WHO experts believe priority should be placed on "pregnant women and those of childbearing age"^{[WHO Report]}

So, here's a summary and some information on how to prevent it!

Click here for an enlarged view!

- Geeker