Computational Epidemiology Lab has created a website to show how emerging technologies can help clarify patterns of disease and promote public health. This interactive map and timeline provides information on the Zika virus.

Information on the level of Zika transmission is useful for public health professionals to evaluate the level of risk for people who may be planning to travel to or are recently returning from areas with possible local transmission.

Zika virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in monkeys through a network that monitored yellow fever. It was later identified in humans in 1952 in Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. Outbreaks of Zika virus disease have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.

The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention provides information about the Zika virus including: about Zika, symptoms, areas of risk and reporting and surveillance.

Australia does not have local transmission of Zika virus, because most areas of Australia do not have the mosquito that can carry the Zika virus. The specific mosquito that carries Zika virus is Aedes aegypti and this mosquito is present only in some parts of Central and North Queensland. Health authorities in Queensland have practised strategies to mitigate the risk of local transmission of Zika virus and continue to review their programs to manage mosquitoes in the state.

Zika is the virus that causes Zika virus disease. The virus is mainly spread to people through the bite of an infected mosquito. It can also be sexually transmitted. Only certain kinds of mosquitoes are able to transmit the virus. About four out of five people infected with Zika virus will have no signs or symptoms of illness.

The article discusses several aspects of the Zika Virus Epidemic as of 2016, and it provides advice on how to beat the virus and the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that are capable of carrying and transmitting the Zika virus. The mosquito-related research being conducted by married scientists Nikos Vasilakis and Shannan Rossi is examined, along with health threats involving pregnant women and an increase in Zika virus-related birth defects such as microcephaly. Vaccine development is assessed.

Patterns of spread of the Zika virus highlight the reality that the world’s poorest families disproportionately bear the burdens of global warming.

How social issues in Brazil contributed to the spread of the Zika virus around the nation- Written by a Goodwall Community Member