Homologous Recombination of Zika viruses in the Americas

Abstract

Chan and colleagues, in this Journal, recently described the recent emerging Zik virus epidemic.1 Zika virus is an old, unknown, mosquito-borne flavivirus, which is related to yellow fever, dengue, Japanese encephalitis and West Nile viruses. Human infections with ZIKV generally develop non-specific symptoms and require no hospitalization.1 After half century' silence, ZIKV suddenly revived in 2007, in Yap Island, Federated States of Micronesia, Western Pacific, and then swept throughout the Americas, with unexpected clinical manifestations including Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults, and microcephaly in infants.