Zika Virus
Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 11:27 am
Like me, you have probably never heard of it. Asia news channel had an American lady saying , because of the increase in infections, people, especially pregnant woman should say indoors and make sure your house has insect screens on the windows as the mosquito that carries the virus can bite in the daytime and at night.
Can someone please tell the poor people in the villages that message.
Zika Virus
Infection,
Cambodia, 2010
To the Editor: Zika virus (ZIKV),
a member of the family Flaviviridae,
genus Flavivirus, was fi rst isolated
from the blood of a sentinel rhesus
monkey from the Zika Forest of Uganda
in 1948 (1). Since that time, serologic
studies and virus isolations have
demonstrated that the virus has a wide
geographic distribution, including
eastern and western Africa; the Indian
subcontinent; Southeast Asia; and
most recently, Micronesia (2–5). The
virus is transmitted primarily through
the bite of infected mosquitoes and
most likely is maintained in a zoonotic
cycle involving nonhuman primates
(1), although recent evidence suggests
the possibility of occasional sexual
transmission in humans (4). Few case
reports have described the clinical
characteristics of ZIKV infection
in humans. Most reports describe
a self-limiting febrile illness that
could easily be mistaken for another
arboviral infection, such as dengue
or chikungunya fever. We report a
confi rmed case of ZIKV infection in
Cambodia.
Since 2006, the US Naval Medical
Research Unit No. 2 (NAMRU-2) has
conducted surveillance for acute fever
to determine causes of the infection
among patients who seek health care
at local clinics in Cambodia. Patients
were enrolled by the health clinic
physician after they gave informed
consent in accordance with an
institutional review board protocol
approved by NAMRU-2 and the
National Ethics Committee for Human
Research of Cambodia. At enrollment,
the physician administered a
questionnaire and collected specimens
(blood and throat swabs). All items
were transported to the NAMRU-2
laboratory in Phnom Penh, where
testing was conducted for a variety
of viral, bacterial, and parasitic
pathogens. In August 2010, a blood
specimen was collected from a 3-yearold
boy at a health clinic in Kampong
Speu Province, Cambodia. The child’s
reported clinical symptoms included
4 days of fever and sore throat and
cough and a headache for 3 days. A
maculopapular rash was not observed,
and the boy was not hospitalized. The
clinic staff conducted a follow-up
interview and reported that the patient
recovered fully.
ZIKV infection was confi rmed in
this patient by using PCR, sequencing,
and serology and through virus
isolation. ELISA for chikungunya and
dengue virus IgM and IgG antibodies
on acute- and convalescent-phase
serum was negative. A universal
fl avivirus real-time PCR screen that
targets the nonstructural (NS) 5 gene
(6) determined that the patient’s
serum was positive for fl avivirus
RNA, but subsequent species-specifi c
PCR ruled out 2 other fl aviviruses
that are highly endemic to the region
(dengue and Japanese encephalitis
viruses) (7–9). This result was the
fi rst nondengue, non–Japanese
encephalitis virus fl avivirus detected
after samples from ≈10,000 enrolled
patients were tested. Nucleic acid
sequencing of the amplicon isolated
by gel purifi cation produced a 100-
bp fragment with 100% sequence
identity to ZIKV (nucleotide position
8,969 of the NS5 gene of the isolate
GenBank accession no. EU545988).
ZIKV infection subsequently
was serologically confi rmed by
hemagglutination-inhibition tests on
paired
Can someone please tell the poor people in the villages that message.
Zika Virus
Infection,
Cambodia, 2010
To the Editor: Zika virus (ZIKV),
a member of the family Flaviviridae,
genus Flavivirus, was fi rst isolated
from the blood of a sentinel rhesus
monkey from the Zika Forest of Uganda
in 1948 (1). Since that time, serologic
studies and virus isolations have
demonstrated that the virus has a wide
geographic distribution, including
eastern and western Africa; the Indian
subcontinent; Southeast Asia; and
most recently, Micronesia (2–5). The
virus is transmitted primarily through
the bite of infected mosquitoes and
most likely is maintained in a zoonotic
cycle involving nonhuman primates
(1), although recent evidence suggests
the possibility of occasional sexual
transmission in humans (4). Few case
reports have described the clinical
characteristics of ZIKV infection
in humans. Most reports describe
a self-limiting febrile illness that
could easily be mistaken for another
arboviral infection, such as dengue
or chikungunya fever. We report a
confi rmed case of ZIKV infection in
Cambodia.
Since 2006, the US Naval Medical
Research Unit No. 2 (NAMRU-2) has
conducted surveillance for acute fever
to determine causes of the infection
among patients who seek health care
at local clinics in Cambodia. Patients
were enrolled by the health clinic
physician after they gave informed
consent in accordance with an
institutional review board protocol
approved by NAMRU-2 and the
National Ethics Committee for Human
Research of Cambodia. At enrollment,
the physician administered a
questionnaire and collected specimens
(blood and throat swabs). All items
were transported to the NAMRU-2
laboratory in Phnom Penh, where
testing was conducted for a variety
of viral, bacterial, and parasitic
pathogens. In August 2010, a blood
specimen was collected from a 3-yearold
boy at a health clinic in Kampong
Speu Province, Cambodia. The child’s
reported clinical symptoms included
4 days of fever and sore throat and
cough and a headache for 3 days. A
maculopapular rash was not observed,
and the boy was not hospitalized. The
clinic staff conducted a follow-up
interview and reported that the patient
recovered fully.
ZIKV infection was confi rmed in
this patient by using PCR, sequencing,
and serology and through virus
isolation. ELISA for chikungunya and
dengue virus IgM and IgG antibodies
on acute- and convalescent-phase
serum was negative. A universal
fl avivirus real-time PCR screen that
targets the nonstructural (NS) 5 gene
(6) determined that the patient’s
serum was positive for fl avivirus
RNA, but subsequent species-specifi c
PCR ruled out 2 other fl aviviruses
that are highly endemic to the region
(dengue and Japanese encephalitis
viruses) (7–9). This result was the
fi rst nondengue, non–Japanese
encephalitis virus fl avivirus detected
after samples from ≈10,000 enrolled
patients were tested. Nucleic acid
sequencing of the amplicon isolated
by gel purifi cation produced a 100-
bp fragment with 100% sequence
identity to ZIKV (nucleotide position
8,969 of the NS5 gene of the isolate
GenBank accession no. EU545988).
ZIKV infection subsequently
was serologically confi rmed by
hemagglutination-inhibition tests on
paired