CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -First discovered in 1947, Zika virus (ZIKV) received little attention until a surge in microcephaly cases was reported after a 2015 outbreak in Brazil.

Detailed explanation-2: -Zika virus was first discovered in 1947 and is named after the Zika Forest in Uganda. In 1952, the first human cases of Zika were detected and since then, outbreaks of Zika have been reported in tropical Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands.

Detailed explanation-3: -In November 2016, the first case of Zika was detected by the Virus Research Diagnostic Labora-tory at Ahmadabad, Gujarat, India (Fig. 1), and subse-quently confirmed at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, India.

Detailed explanation-4: -Abstract. Zika virus was discovered in East Africa in 1947 by the Rockefeller Foundation during investigations on the ecology of yellow fever. Although it was subsequently shown to have widespread distribution in Africa and Asia, it was not known to cause epidemics until 2007.

Detailed explanation-5: -An epidemic of Zika fever, caused by Zika virus, began in Brazil and affected other countries in the Americas from April 2015 to November 2016. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the end of the epidemic in November 2016, but noted that the virus still represents “a highly significant and long term problem".