Naturally infected Aedes aegypti collected during a Zika virus outbreak have viral titres consistent with transmission

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) of the genus Flavivirus within the family Flaviviridae, originally isolated from the blood of a febrile rhesus macaque in the Ziika forest of Uganda in 1947 [1]. Although serologic evidence indicates that ZIKV has circulated in Africa and Asia for decades [2], only 14 reports of human infection were documented in the literature before 2007 [3]. Subsequently, ZIKV began causing outbreaks on islands in the Pacific before reaching the Americas in 2013 [4]. Beginning in 2015 the virus sparked widespread epidemics in the Americas, garnering international attention due to its association with severe sequelae such as Guillain–Barré syndrome in previously healthy individuals as well as Congenital Zika Syndrome in infants whose mothers were infected during pregnancy

Naturally infected Aedes aegypti

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) of the genus Flavivirus within the family Flaviviridae, originally isolated from the blood of a febrile rhesus macaque in the Ziika forest of Uganda in 1947 [1]. Although serologic evidence indicates that ZIKV has circulated in Africa and Asia for decades [2], only 14 reports of human infection were documented in the literature before 2007 [3]. Subsequently, ZIKV began causing outbreaks on islands in the Pacific before reaching the Americas in 2013 [4]. Beginning in 2015 the virus sparked widespread epidemics in the Americas, garnering international attention due to its association with severe sequelae such as Guillain–Barré syndrome in previously healthy individuals as well as Congenital Zika Syndrome in infants whose mothers were infected during pregnancy