Abstract
The explosive epidemic of Zika virus with resultant central nervous system malformations in children born to infected mothers has now reached epidemic proportions. This disease is reminiscent of our struggle with rubella prior to the development of safe and effective vaccines in the 1960s. Both are benign infections in children and adults, but capable of affecting fetal brain development in pregnant women.
Highlights
The explosive epidemic of Zika virus with resultant central nervous system malformations in children born to infected mothers has reached epidemic proportions
The most recent outbreak in Brazil in 2014, with its subsequent rapid spread through South America, Central America and Mexico, along with emerging reports of microcephaly in neonates born to mothers who were infected with Zika virus during their pregnancy, had prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the Zika virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on February 1, 2016 [6]
As of August 2016, the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has acknowledged 29 autochthonous cases of Zika virus infection in Miami, Florida thereby documenting Zika virus spread to the United States [8,9]
Summary
From case reports and data from related flavi virus infections, the incubation period is estimated to be 3 to 14 days after inoculation from the Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, and duration of viremia is estimated to be approximately 11 days. There are currently 21 reported cases of male to female and 1 case female to male sexual transmission in the US [9,10]. Other documented modes of Zika virus transmission include vertical, intrapartum and perinatal transmission, laboratory exposures, and possibly blood transfusions [11,12,13,14] This has prompted the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revise its guidance to recommend that all donated blood in the US and its territories to be screened for Zika virus
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