Zika virus disease: a current review of the literature

Background The massive pandemic of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is spreading through South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and possibly the USA. It is the most recent of four surprising appearances of imperative arthropod-borne viral illnesses in the Western Hemisphere over the preceding 20 years. Objective The objective of this narrative review is to summarize the existing knowledge about the epidemiology, transmission, clinical manifestations, complications, replication, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment and prevention of ZIKV infection. Methods We used electronic databases to identify relevant published data regarding ZIKV in BOOLEAN and MeSH searches. Conclusion This review concludes that the ZIKV predominantly circulates in arboreal mosquitoes (e.g., Aedes africanus) and wild primates. It rarely causes severe infection in humans, even in extremely enzootic regions. Currently, we do not have any efficacious drugs against ZIKV infection. However, there are virus-specific therapeutic targets, which may lead to the development of targeted anti-ZIKV drugs.