Research and recommended resources on Zika virus, pathology, and control

The Zika virus, a flavivirus is related to viruses that cause dengue and yellow fever and is spread by Aedes mosquitoes. The virus was first isolated in 1947, during studies conducted in the Zika Forest of Uganda. During the first 60 years of Zika’s discovery (i.e., until 2007), epidemic infections were unheard of. Less than 20 cases of confirmed human infection were described between 1952 and 2007. This is likely because the presentation is generally mild and nonspecific, so Zika fever was either ignored or misdiagnosed. Since 2007 several devastating epidemics piqued international interest fuelling the research on this hitherto neglected flavivirus. Importantly, as control of viral pandemics requires broadly similar public health measures; the international response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been facilitated by observations made during Zika epidemics. There has been a recent explosion in the knowledge and understanding of the Zika virus. It is now difficult even for experienced scientists to remain up-to-date. To assist colleagues who are interested in understanding more about this field we have therefore produced tables containing up-to-date resources in this chapter.