Thread by @vinodscaria

The recent outbreaks of #Zika Virus in #Kerala has renewed interest in this virus. This tweetorial explains some key aspects about the virus and why we should be actively using #genomics for #GeneticEpidemiology

The disease in most people is mild. Majority of people infected with Zika virus DO NOT develop symptoms. Symptoms are generally mild including fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise, and headache, and usually last for 2–7 days.
Source: @CDCgov

Death is RARE
Infection during pregnancy can cause microcephaly & congential malformations.
Neurological complications like Guillain-Barré syndrome, neuropathy and myelitis are seen in some.

The virus is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, which bite during the day.
May also be transmitted vertically, through sexual contact or blood transfusions @JohnsHopkinsIH

The virus belongs to the genus Flavivirus, and has a single stranded RNA genome of ~10K nucleotides.

The virus was originally detected in the Ziika forest in Uganda in 1947. Evidence of Human infection came from serological studies in 1952 in #Uganda and #Tanzania

Outbreaks of Zika virus have happened consistently across the globe - in Africa, spreading through Asia and recently in Central America

and this spread has been mirrored in the genetic lineages. The American lineage -derived from the recent Central American outbreaks seems to have diverged out of the Asian lineage. The Asian lineage is supposedly associated with more infectivity compared to African lineages.

Genome sequencing and Genetic Epidemiology for surveillance therefore is critical in the #Kerala outbreak to identify the #origin, #spread, #evolution apart from developing newer and better #diagnostics and public-health measures to contain the spread.

For folks interested in contributing to ongoing #OpenResearch on Zika virus and contribute to building tools and resources to aid in a better understanding may also drop in at kaiser.genomes.in/zikaopen

A community-driven dashboard is now online kaiser.genomes.in/zikaopen

#CitizenScience #OpenData #OutbreakResponse

Understanding the animal reservoir is quite important in controlling the long-term spread of #zika virus since significant evidence exist on non-human reservoirs including domestic animals.

Nucleic acid amplification tests like RT-PCR is ideal for #ZikaVirus diagnosis since antibodies elicited by zika virus could cross react with many other viruses including #Dengue . We now have a collection of RT-PCR assays at kaiser.genomes.in/zikaopen compiled by @Abhinav_Jain_19