Zika Virus

Scientific Name: ZIKV

Morphological Information

Zika virus is spherical with an envelope and a capsid containing the RNA. Surface proteins are organized in the fashion shown to the left.

Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) are used to detect the genomic material of Zika virus.

A mosquito becomes infected when it takes a blood meal from an infected human
- The virus goes into the mosquito’s saliva over 8-12 days
The virus goes from the mosquito’s saliva to the human’s blood when it bites another person
The person becomes infectious after about a week and then is actively infectious for up to 7 days

Viral envelope attached to protein E receptors on host cell
The virus fuses with the membrane and the RNA is released into the cytoplasm
The RNA is translated into a protein
Replication occurs in the cytoplasm in humans and in the nucleus in mosquitoes
The genome is replicated
The virus is assembled at the ER and the Golgi apparatus transports the virion buds
The the virion is cleaved and matured
New virions are released via exocytosis

Humans are the definitive hosts
Mosquitoes from the Aedes species are the intermediate hosts
It is possible for humans to transmit the virus without the mosquito intermediate
Can pass from mother to child during preganancy
Can be transmitted through sex
Can be tranmitted through blood transfusion
The resevoir is most likely a non human primate
People are at greater risk of getting zika virus if they live or travel in tropical or subtropical areas such as countries in Central, South, and North America and islands near West Africa
Having unprotected sex also increases the risk of transmission
There is no treatment or vaccination for Zika

The Zika virus epidemic took place from 2015 to 2016 and was endemic in Brazil and other parts of South and North America.