ALL ABOUT THE ZIKA VIRUS

                           


ALL ABOUT THE ZIKA VIRUS
    In 1947,Scientists researching  for yellow fever, placed a rhesus macaque in a cage in Zika forest (Zika means overgrown in Lugandan language) near the east African virus research institute in Entebbe, Uganda .The monkey developed a rare fever and researchers in the course of discovery, isolated from its serum a rare transmissible agent known as Zika virus in 1952. little did the researchers know that the rare transmissible virus would later turn to an epidemic that  would terrorize countries 55yrs later.
   Zika virus (Zika V) is a member of flaviridae family and flavirus genus transmitted by daytime Aedes mosquitoes such as A.aegypti.
  In humans, the virus causes a mild illness known as Zika fever ,has since the 1950's when it was isolated  was rare and unnoticed. In 2014,the virus spread eastwards across the pacific ocean to Europe. In 2015 pandemic levels of the Zika outreach has reached the Polynesia ,the Caribbean and South America. In 2016,the U.S centers for disease control and prevention issued travel guidelines on affected countries in a bid of curbing the spread of the virus in the U.S. .Most Latin American countries has also issued strict travel guidelines and advised women to postpone getting pregnant until more is known about the virus. The Nigerian Governing are also planning travel restrictions on its citizens travelling abroad. The  Zika was isolated from humans for the first time in Nigeria in 1968. 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE VIRUS: The Virus is enveloped and icosahedral in shape. It has a non segmented ,Single stranded positive RNA genome that is close related to the sponwendi virus.
TRANSMISSION OF THE VIRUS: Zika virus is transmitted by daytime-active mosquitoes and has been isolated from a number of species in the genus Aedes, such as A.aegypti, A.africanus etc. It can also be transmitted by sexual contact.
CLINICAL SYMPTOMS: Clinical symptoms include mild headache, maculopapular rash, fever, malaise, conjunctivitis and malaise.
LINK TO MICROENCEPHALY AND OTHER NEUROLOGICAL CONDITIONS:
     In December 2015,it was suspected that trans placental infection of the fetus may lead  to microencephaly(a neurodevelopmental disorder which leads to an abnormal growth of the brain of the unborn child or fetus).Complication of Zika virus may lead to Gullain-Barre's disease (This is a rapid onset of muscle weakness as a result of damage to the peripheral nervous system)
CURE FOR ZIKA VIRUS: Presently there is no cure for the Zika virus, Neither is there a vaccine for it .Nikos Vasilakus of the Biodefense and Emerging infectious has predicted  that 10 to 12yrs may be needed, before an effective Zika vaccine is available for public use.