Zika Virus: A Serious Global Health Threat

In February 2016, the World Health Organization declared Zika virus (ZIKV) infection a public health emergency of international concern, given the precipitous spread of the virus across the Americas. Unlike arboviruses such as Chikungunya and Dengue, which have also recently emerged in the western hemisphere, ZIKV was identified in communities where concurrent neurologic conditions such as microcephaly and Guillain-Barre (GB) syndrome were occurring at alarming rates. Thus, investigations to systematically evaluate the link between ZIKV, congenital malformations (including microcephaly) and GB syndrome remain a top priority.