DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2016.v04i09.004

Pages: 3198-3207

Zika virus is a mosquito-borne arbovirus first isolated in the Zika forest in 1947. After a period of obscurity, it emerged in 2007 with an outbreak in the Yap Island, Federated States of Micronesia followed by another outbreak in 2013 in French Polynesia. During the French Polynesian outbreak, Zika virus was found to be associated with neurological complications like Guillain-Barre Syndrome. The current epidemic in Brazil also demonstrated an increased incidence of congenital malformations and neurological complications forcing the World Health Organization to declare Zika fever as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). This review attempts to compile the current knowledge available on the virology, clinical features, complications, diagnosis, treatment and control of Zika virus infection.