Zika virus in Brazil and worldwide: a narrative review

ABSTRACT

Background: In the past 5 years, the Zika virus (ZIKV) has gone from being associated with mild infection to one of the most studied viruses worldwide. Between 2015 and 2016, the first reports of pregnant women with confirmed and/or suspected ZIKV infection described fetuses and newborns with severe congenital malformations, in particular microcephaly and central nervous system malformations, leading to a strong suspicion of its association with the virus. Despite all the knowledge rapidly acquired since the beginning of the ZIKV outbreak, many questions are still to be answered and further studies on the infection and its consequences are required.Aim: To present the currently available evidence on the epidemiological and clinical aspects of ZIKV infection.Methods: Non-systematic review carried out in MEDLINE (PubMed), LILACS (VHL), Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane and CAPES Portal databases for the past five years using the search terms arboviruses, flavivirus, Zika and ZIKV.Results: The acute clinical of ZIKV infection in children seems very similar to that in adults, with fever (usully low), rash maculopapular and pruritus. Neurological complication associated with ZIKV reported in the literature include Guillain-Barré syndrome and meningoencephalitis. More recently, the term congenital Zika syndrome (CZS) has been adopted to describe a set of symptoms and signs in children whose mothers had ZIKV infection confirmed during pregnancy.Conclusions: More detailed knowledge of ZIKV infection in children allows the pediatrician to diagnose earlier, implement the correct treatment, monitor warnings signs for the most severe forms, and especially establish effective preventive measures.

Abbreviations:: CDC, Centers for Disease Control; CZS, congenital Zika syndrome; DEET, N, N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide; GBS, Guillain–Barré syndrome; PRNT, plaque reduction neutralisation test; RNA, ribonucleic acid; RT-PCR, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; STX, saxitoxin; ZIKV, Zika virus.

KEYWORDS:

• Zika virus
• ZIKV
• congenital infection
• arboviruses
• flavivirus

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.