Biomedical Laboratory Science

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Showing posts with label Zika Disease. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zika Disease. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Improving Diagnosis of Zika Virus Infection for Pregnant Women !

Mosquito-borne Zika virus (ZIKV) was the cause of the recent large outbreak of Zika disease in America. Despite fever, Zika is a mild disease, although epidemics in recent years have demonstrated an association with the appearance of severe congenital malformations (microcephaly). Owing to ZIKV serology cross-reactivity with other tropical flaviviruses, the final diagnosis relies on nucleic acid amplification. Pregnant women in endemic areas should be investigated to follow infection and sequelae.

Background

Zika virus (ZIKV) belongs to the Flavivirus genus and is related to other viruses that are also transmitted by the bite of mosquitoes, such as dengue virus (DENV), yellow fever virus (YFV) and West Nile virus (WNV). The Flaviviridae family comprises single-strand RNA, membrane-enveloped viruses that frequently use Aedes aegypti as a vector. Despite ZIKV being discovered over 60 years ago, only since 2014 (in the French Polynesia Islands) and 2015 (Brazil and America) has it been evident that the virus can cause large outbreaks and epidemics that lead to a global public health emergency.








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