Some facts about the current Zika virus ‘outbreak’ in Brazil:

• A few deaths have been reported in people who had been diagnosed with dengue fever and who died due to worsening symptoms. These patients were shown post-mortem to be infected with Zika virus. Worsening of dengue-fever-like symptoms hence will need to be treated as such *.
• Along with increased cases of Zika virus infection, an increase in the number of babies born with microcephaly (literally “micro/small brain”). Of those babies, at least one infant has tested positive for the virus. A conclusive link between Zika virus infection and microcephaly has not been confirmed but further investigations have been initiated *.

What you need to know about this virus:

• Its genetic material is a positively single-stranded RNA molecule and as such, it belongs to the flaviviridae alongside dengue fever, yellow fever, and so on..
• Zika virus, hitches a ride to its host by means of mosquitoes, Aeges aegypti and others of the Stegomya subgenus (present in areas where more then half of the worlds population is living∗ ), and transmission has been reported to be via blood and potentially also via semen*
• Zika virus symptoms are generic and include fever, rash, joint pain, red eyes.
• There is no vaccine and no treatment, so protection from mosquito bites is the only preventive measure one can take.
• An initial analysis suggests that Zika virus infection could be transmitted during the first 3 months of pregnancy and that during delivery the virus could potentially be transmitted to the newborn *