Zika


Zi·ka

Z5017875 (zē′kə)n.1. A flavivirus that is transmitted primarily by aedes mosquitoes and that causes a mild disease with symptoms that include fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis. Infection by the Zika virus in a pregnant woman can cause microcephaly or other brain defects in her infant. The virus can also be transmitted via sexual contact and from mother to child. Also called Zika virus.2. The infection caused by this virus. Also called Zika virus disease, Zika virus infection.
[So called because the virus was first isolated in 1947 from a sample taken from a Rhesus monkey at the virological research station in the Zika Forest near Entebbe, Uganda.]