Zika virus, vectors, reservoirs, amplifying hosts, and their potential to spread worldwide: what we know and what we should investigate urgently

Objectives: The widespread epidemic of Zika virus infection in South and Central America and the Caribbean in 2015, along with the increased incidence of microcephaly in fetuses born to mothers infected with Zika virus and the potential for worldwide spread, indicate the need to review the current literature regarding vectors, reservoirs, and amplification hosts.

Vectors: The virus has been isolated in Africa in mosquitoes of the genera Aedes, Anopheles, and Mansonia, and in Southeast Asia and the Pacific area in mosquitoes of the genus Aedes. Aedes albopictus has invaded several countries in Central Africa and all Mediterranean countries, and continues to spread throughout Central and Northern Europe. The wide distribution of the virus in animal hosts and vectors favors the emergence of recombinants.

Animal hosts: The virus has been isolated in monkeys, and antibodies have been detected in domestic sheep, goats, horses, cows, ducks, rodents, bats, orangutans, and carabaos.

Conclusions: It is a public health imperative to define the domestic and wild animal reservoirs, amplification hosts, and vector capacity of the genera Aedes, Anopheles, and Mansonia. These variables will define the geographic distribution of Zika virus along with the indicated timing and scale of the environmental public health interventions worldwide.