The Zika virus infection
This is a disease caused by the Zika virus (ZIKAV), an arbovirus the flavivirus genus (family Flaviviridae), very close phylogenetically to viruses such as dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, or West Nile virus.
The Zika virus is transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes, in urban areas (A. aegypti) as well as in the wild.
After an infected mosquito bite, the disease symptoms usually appear following an incubation period of three to twelve days.
The infection may present itself as asymptomatic or with a moderate clinical picture; no fatal cases have been detected to date.
In symptomatic cases, with moderate disease, the symptoms appear acutely and include fever, non-purulent conjunctivitis, headache, myalgia and arthralgia, asthenia, maculopapular rash, edema in the lower limbs and less frequently, retro-orbital pain, anorexia, vomiting, diarrhea, or abdominal pain. The symptoms last for 4-7 days and are self-limiting. Complications (neurological, autoimmune) are rare and have only been identified in the epidemic in French Polynesia.