Inactivation of Zika virus in plasma with amotosalen and ultraviolet A illumination

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) of the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae. ZIKV was first isolated in 1947 from a Rhesus monkey from the Zika forest in Uganda.1 Until 2007, only sporadic cases have been recorded in Africa and Asia.2-6 The first reported outbreak of ZIKV outside Africa and Asia occurred in 2007 on the North Pacific island country of Yap Island (Federated States of Micronesia).7 ZIKV then caused the largest outbreak ever recorded from October 2013 to April 2014 in French Polynesia, South Pacific, with an estimated 28,000 cases.8-10 In 2015, the first documented outbreak of ZIKV in the Americas occurred in Brazil11 in which dengue (DENV) and chikungunya (CHIKV) viruses also circulate. The most common clinical manifestations of ZIKV infections are rash, conjunctivitis, fever, and arthralgia,7 but severe neurologic complications have also been reported in French Polynesian patients.1