Zika Viral Infection and its Future Prospects

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito borne viral illness that has posed a major threat to the global community. This re-emerging arbovirus was associated with the global pandemic of 2015–16. Earlier ZIKV was considered to be an endemic infection confined to Africa and some parts of Asia with mild symptoms in humans. But during 2007 the virus expanded its geographical range of infection and then assumed menacing proportion at global scale. In 2015, ZIKV emerged as a devastating infectious agent in Brazil affecting millions of people. Later on the epidemic spread to other American countries, the Caribbean and other geographical regions. The main concerns associated with this epidemic were large number of cases, viremic travelers and manifestations of neurological and autoimmune disorders like microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Such global spread of the viral infection is a challenge for public health system in absence of antiviral drug and vaccine. The present report provides an overview about the Zika viral infection in the context of fast changing global epidemiology together with some possible precautions towards its containment.