10-02-2016
The first reports of the Zika virus (ZIKV) date back more than 70 years. They concerned monkeys living in the African area. Today, the virus is emerging again, but is transmitted by mosquitoes. At the moment, no cure or vaccine has been found for this virus. Our knowledge of it is still poor.
The Zika virus was originally transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and has been confirmed to bethe direct cause of the birth of infants with microcephaly (a malformation in which the skull is smaller than normal development) in some countries. Currently, researchers from the Recife Oswaldo Cruz Foundation have shown that the Zika virus can be transmitted by Culex pipines mosquitoes (a very abundant species of mosquito common in Poland).
Importantly, initially, human cases of the disease transmitted by this virus were sporadic. Today, there are more and more of them and they are appearing in various countries.
Research is currently underway to find out how quickly and in what climate the Zika virus multiplies and whether it has mutated.
