Get to know the horrible new killer, Zika virus

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a member of the Flaviviridae virus family and the flavivirus genus. It is a mosquito-borne virus that may be causing thousands of babies to be born with tiny heads and brains, which results in a defect called microcephaly. The first case of Zika found in Easter Island is in 2014. Zika has been spreading through island to island in the South Pacific since 2007. Easter Island has an annual festival that attracts Polynesians, who may bring Zika with them.

There are so many virologists believe the breakout of the virus in New York City is caused by the blood of someone from a plane travel. The first cases were found in Queens, home to Kennedy International Airport, so the virus might also have been brought in a stowaway mosquito or even a bird. West Nile spread slowly towards west, stopped in each winter because the mosquitoes died off and the birds flew back to south. It is until 2005 that the virus reaches the Pacific Northwest. What's more, mosquito-borne pathogens are not the only ones which can be moved. There are also ticks that can carry more than 30 diseases, including the fatal Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

In other areas of America, the Gulf Coast tick is expanding north. Scientists even found other species that carry a combined 18 infectious bacteria in new places. The living conditions and medical treatment is quite important, which has been proved by malaria. And in the age of plane travel, nearly two thousand Americans come back from abroad with malaria every year, but there is no outbreak happens. It is because that the patients are always treated quickly, thus killing the parasites in blood.

Besides, most American homes have air-conditioning and screens, so they can be hardly bitten or only a few times all over the year. But people living in the poor condition such as a windowless shack in Rio or Mexico City might be more dangerous.

"Zika may have changed in the past decade," said Dr. Weaver, a co-author of a paper that foresaw the emergence of Zika virus in the Americas. "It might have increased its transmissibility in Aedes aegypti or its ability to build up to high levels in the human bloodstream."

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