Zika Fever
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zika_virus
Zika fever is caused by a species of Flavivirus and is transmitted by the mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control). Symptoms are usually mild and include fever, rash, headache, conjunctivitis, and muscle and joint pain (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2025).
Approximately 1.23% of Zika infections result in Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune condition that causes paralysis. While the paralysis is usually temporary, around 20% of affected individuals experience long-term paralysis, and Zika-induced Guillain-Barré syndrome is fatal in about 5% of cases (Barbi et al., 2018).
Zika virus originated in Africa (World Health Organization, 2022), but it is unclear exactly how it reached Brazil. It was not considered a major public health concern until a mutation in Brazil caused the virus to trigger microcephaly in newborns when pregnant women were infected (Lowe et al., 2018). This development led to a public health emergency — and a troubling, sexist response from various governments that advised women to avoid becoming pregnant, rather than addressing the structural causes of the outbreak.
As with many emerging diseases, Zika also sparked conspiracy theories blaming the U.S. government for engineering the virus — a theory as implausible as claiming the U.S. government engineered the Black Death centuries before either the U.S. or genetic engineering existed. Perhaps disease outbreaks occur naturally after all.
Deforestation has played a significant role in the spread of Zika fever by creating more habitat for Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus (Lloyd, 2009). Currently, there is no vaccine or specific antiviral treatment for Zika fever (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2025).
References:
Factsheet about Zika virus disease European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/zika-virus-infection/facts/factsheet
(January 30, 2025) Zika symptoms and complications Center for Disease Control and Prevention
https://www.cdc.gov/zika/signs-symptoms/index.html
Barbi, Ludovica. Coelho, Antonio Victor Campos. Alencar, Luiz Claudio Arraes. Crovella, Sergio. (March-April 2018) Prevalence of Guillain-Barré syndrome among Zika virus infected cases: a systematic review and meta-analysis The Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases Volume 22 Issue 2 Pages 137-141
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1413867017309340
(December 8, 2022) Zika Virus World Health Organization
Lowe, Rachel. Barcellos, Christovam. Brasil, Patricia. Cruz, Oswaldo G. Honorio, Nildimar Alves. Kuper, Hannah. Carvalho, Marilia Sa. (January 9, 2018) The Zika Virus Epidemic in Brazil: From Discovery to Future Implications PubMed
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5800195/
Lloyd, Christopher. (2009) The Story of the World in 100 Species Bloomsbury