Endoplasmic reticulum: a focal point of Zika virus infection

Mohd Ropidi, Muhammad Izzuddin; Khazali, Ahmad Suhail; Nor Rashid, Nurshamimi; Yusof, Rohana

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne virus that belongs to the Flaviviridae family together with other notable flaviviruses such as dengue virus (DENV), West Nile virus (WNV), Japanese Encephalitis virus (JEV), and yellow fever virus (YFV). ZIKV was first isolated from a febrile rhesus monkey in April 1947 and was subsequently isolated from Aedes africanus mosquitoes 9 months later in Zika Forest of Uganda [1] {Dick, 1952 #15}. Despite its discovery more than a half-century ago, ZIKV received little attention due to sporadic cases of human infection with mild and self-limiting symptoms [2] . ZIKV was put under scrutiny following its first outbreak in the Yap Island of Micronesia in 2007. During this outbreak, 185 suspected cases of ZIKV infection were reported, and at least 24% of these patients were either serologically or molecularly confirmed for ZIKV infection [3] . The same study estimated that 5005 island residents (73%) were infected, of which 919 were symptomatic [3] .