Isolation, identification and genomic characterization of the Asian lineage Zika virus imported to China

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) used to be an unknown mosquito-borne flavivirus, and maintained its limited sylvatic circulation in a few African and Asian countries (Enfissi et al., 2016). Based on available clinical data, the symptoms in human infections with ZIKV are supposed to be similar to other arbovirus infections such as dengue, and characterized by fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise, and headache (Duffy et al., 2009). However, its occasional introduction to the Americas resulted in unexpected large outbreaks with millions of human cases since 2015 (Fauci and Morens, 2016). Even worsen, substantial evidence has linked microcephaly in infants, a severe form of birth defect, to ZIKV infection in pregnant women (Mlakar et al., 2016). On 1 February 2016, the World Health Organization has stated ZIKV and observed increase in neurological disorders and neonatal malformations a public health emergency of international concern. Now, ZIKV has rapidly spread to more than 52 countries and territories in Africa, Americas, Asia and the Pacific.