Zika virus disease
464 Views

GC: n

S: WHO – http://www.who.int/csr/disease/zika/case-definition/en/ (last access: 1 February 2018); https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/zika-virus/symptoms-causes/syc-20353639 (last access: 1 February 2018).

N: 1. – Zika (pn): Name of a forest in Uganda.
“Zika” as a noun is a virus, by 1952, discovered 1947 and named for the Zika Forest of Uganda, where it was first found.
– virus (n): late 14c., “venomous substance,” from Latin virus “poison, sap of plants, slimy liquid, a potent juice,” probably from PIE root *weis- “to melt away, to flow,” used of foul or malodorous fluids, with specialization in some languages to “poisonous fluid” (source also of Sanskrit visam “poison,” visah “poisonous;” Avestan vish- “poison;” Latin viscum “sticky substance, birdlime;” Greek ios “poison,” ixos “mistletoe, birdlime;” Old Church Slavonic višnja “cherry;” Old Irish fi “poison;” Welsh gwyar “blood”). Main modern meaning “agent that causes infectious disease” first recorded 1728 (in reference to venereal disease). The computer sense is from 1972.
– disease (n): early 14c., “discomfort, inconvenience,” from Old French desaise “lack, want; discomfort, distress; trouble, misfortune; disease, sickness,” from des- “without, away” + aise “ease”. Sense of “sickness, illness” in English first recorded late 14c.; the word still sometimes was used in its literal sense early 17c.
2. ZIKA FOREST, Uganda — In the 1940s, colonial researchers slashing through tropical brush stumbled upon this forest near the lapping waters of Lake Victoria. With its cool, wet climate, the swampy area was a giant petri dish for virologists.
They decided to make it a field site for a research institute nearby in Entebbe, an outpost of what was then the Buganda Kingdom. There, samples of mosquitoes, birds, bats and other mammals were analyzed. Of prime interest was yellow fever, thought to originate in the area.
In the forest, scientists caged monkeys in wooden platforms high among the jackfruit and mango trees, where mosquitoes liked to breed. The researchers themselves could simply stick out their arms and wait for one to bite, reports from the time noted.
After a successful pilot program in another forest in the mid-1940s, the primate project was brought to Zika Forest, with six platforms of caged Asian sentinel monkeys.
On a Friday in 1947, one of the monkeys fell ill. “Rhesus 766,” a report of the incident reads, “was brought to the laboratory at Entebbe.”
3. Zika fever: A mosquito-borne viral disease caused by Zika virus (ZIKV), consisting of mild fever, rash (mostly maculo-papular), headaches, arthralgia, myalgia, asthenia, and non-purulent conjunctivitis, occurring about three to twelve days after the mosquito vector bite
4. The history of Zika virus disease serves as a paradigm of a typical emerging viral infection. Zika virus disease, a mosquito-borne flavivirus, was first isolated in 1947 in the Zika forest of Uganda. The same virus was also isolated from jungle-dwelling mosquitoes (Aedes (Stegomyia) africanus). In many areas of Africa and South Asia human infections with Zika virus were detected by both serology and virus isolation. About 80% of infections are asymptomatic, and in 20% a mostly mild disease with fever, rash, arthralgia, and conjunctivitis may occur. Fetal infections with malformations were not recorded in Africa or Asia. Zika virus was imported to northern Brazil possibly during the world soccer championship that was hosted by Brazil in June through July 2014. A cluster of severe fetal malformations with microcephaly and ocular defects was noted in 2015 in the northeast of Brazil, and intrauterine infections with Zika virus were confirmed. The dramatic change in Zika virus pathogenicity upon its introduction to Brazil has remained an enigma.
5. The most common symptom is a rash – with or without fever – that lasts two to seven days. Patients may also get conjunctivitis (also known as pink eye), as well as muscle and joint pain. Zika virus disease is normally a mild disease and 80 % of infected people do not develop symptoms at all.

S: 1. OED – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=Zika; https://www.etymonline.com/word/virus; https://www.etymonline.com/word/disease (last access: 1 February 2018). 2. NYT – https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/world/africa/uganda-zika-forest-mosquitoes.html (last access: 1 February 2018). 3. TERMIUM PLUS – HTTP://WWW.goo.gl/1xA4oM (last access: 1 February 2018). 4. NCBI – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27337468 (last access: 1 February 2018). 5. https://ecdc.europa.eu/en/zika-virus-infection/facts/questions-and-answers (last access: 1 February 2018).

SYN: Zika disease, Zika fever.

S: GDT – http://www.granddictionnaire.com/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=26503163 (last access: 1 February 2018)

CR: Zika virus