A Review on Zika Virus

The Zika virus is a mosquito-transmitted infection common in Africa and Asia, it did not begin spreading widely in the Western Hemisphere, when an outbreak occurred in Brazil. Few people with less immunity, showed rapidly spreading with infection. Millions of people in tropical regions of the Americas now have been infected. The infection causes no symptoms and leads to no lasting harm. Scientific concern is focused on women who become infected while pregnant and those who develop a temporary form of paralysis after exposure to the virus. The World Health Organization has declared the Zika virus an international public health emergency, that it causes birth defects. As many as four million people could be infected by the end of the year.

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have urged pregnant women against travel to more than thirty countries, mostly in the Caribbean and Latin America, where the outbreak is growing. Some pregnant women who have been to these regions should be tested for the infection.

The infection appears to be linked to the development of unusually small heads and brain damage in newborns - called microcephaly - as well as other neurological defects. In adults, the virus is linked to a form of temporary paralysis. The vast majority of Zika infections are transmitted by mosquitoes, sexually transmitted in only few cases (around dozen).

Recently Bharat Biotech, a Hyderabad-based vaccines and bio-therapeutic manufacturer, developed a vaccine to fight against the dreaded mosquito-borne Zika virus.

This review gives an idea about the recent advances or developments available for treating Zika infection.