Animals in the Zika Virus Life Cycle: What to Expect from Megadiverse Latin American Countries.

Marina Galvão Bueno,Nádia Martinez,Claudia Nunes Duarte Dos Santos,Marcia Chame,Lívia Abdalla,Archie C A Clements

doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0005073

Marina Galvão Bueno, Nádia Martinez + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005073

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Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) was first isolated in 1947 in primates in Uganda, West Africa. The virus remained confined to the equatorial regions of Africa and Asia, cycling between infecting monkeys, arboreal mosquitoes, and occasionally humans. The ZIKV Asiatic strain was probably introduced into Brazil in or around late 2013. Presently, ZIKV is in contact with the rich biodiversity in all Brazilian biomes, bordering on other Latin American countries. Infections in Brazilian primates have been reported recently, but the overall impact of this virus on wildlife in the Americas is still unknown. The current epidemic in the Americas requires knowledge on the role of mammals, especially nonhuman primates (NHPs), in ZIKV transmission to humans. The article discusses the available data on ZIKV in host animals and issues of biodiversity, rapid environmental change, and impact on human health in megadiverse Latin American countries. The authors reviewed scientific articles and recent news stories on ZIKV in animals, showing that 47 animal species from three orders (mammals, reptiles, and birds) have been investigated for the potential to establish a sylvatic cycle. The review aims to contribute to epidemiological studies and the knowledge on the natural history of ZIKV. The article concludes with questions that require urgent attention in epidemiological studies involving wildlife in order to understand their role as ZIKV hosts and to effectively control the epidemic.

Highlights

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging flavivirus from the same family as the West Nile (WNV), Japanese encephalitis (JEV), dengue (DENV), and yellow fever viruses (YFV) [1, 2]
This review aims to describe the available data on ZIKV infection in host animals and its relationship to biodiversity, rapid environmental changes, and the impact on human health in megadiverse Latin American countries
Some authors claim that there is no solid evidence of wild mammals, such as nonhuman primates (NHPs), as reservoirs for ZIKV

Summary

Introduction

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging flavivirus from the same family as the West Nile (WNV), Japanese encephalitis (JEV), dengue (DENV), and yellow fever viruses (YFV) [1, 2]. ZIKV is an RNA virus, mostly transmitted to humans by bites from infected Aedes spp., especially Aedes aegypti, a highly competent and anthropophilic vector species [3] that transmits DENV and Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) [4]. Other Aedes species have been implicated in ZIKV transmission, mainly in sylvatic cycles, including Ae. africanus, Ae. albopictus, Ae. apicoargenteus, and Ae. furcifer [5, 6, 7, 8]. ZIKV was first identified in 1947 in primates during a YFV study in Uganda [5]. The first reports of infected humans appeared five years later in Uganda and Tanzania [9], but the infection remained limited to equatorial regions of Africa and Asia, cycling between infective monkeys, arboreal mosquitoes, and occasionally humans [10, 11]. ZIKV outbreaks in humans occurred in 2007 on the island of Yap, in Micronesia, and in Gabon [13, 6], and another outbreak occurred in 2013 in French Polynesia [14]

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