A historic report of Zika in Mozambique: implications for assessing current risk

Abstract

Zikavirus(ZIKV)is anarthropod-borneflavivirustransmittedtohumansbythebiteoftheAedesmosquito.Theviruswasfirstisolatedin1947froma rhesusmonkeyintheZikaforestinUganda[1].Formorethanhalfa century,theviruswasconfinedtoAfricaandAsia,andonly14humancasesofZikahadbeendocumented[2].Thischangedin2007whenanoutbreakwasreportedonYapIslandinMicronesia[3,4],followedbya largeepidemicinFrenchPolynesiain2013[5,6].Morerecently,ZIKVhasspreadexplosivelyinSouthandCentralAmericaandtheCaribbean[2,7].ReportsofassociatedmicrocephalycasesandotherneurologicdisordersinBrazilanda similarclusterinFrenchPolynesiain2014ledWHOtodeclarea PublicHealthEmergencyofInternationalConcern(PHEIC)onFebruary1st,2016[8].TopreventglobalizationofZIKV,WHOdevelopeda Zikastrategicresponseframework.TheyrecommendedthatunaffectedcountriesrapidlyassesstheirriskofbeinghitbyZIKV[9]inordertodeveloppreparednessplans.ThefearofZIKVis attributedtothefactthatnotonlyhasAedes,themainvectorofZIKV,spreadexponentiallyovertheworldinthelastdecadesbutalsobecauseofthelargenumberofsusceptiblepopulationsworldwideandtheabsenceofaneffectivevaccine[9,10].