March 01, 2019
Bulletin interne de l'Institut Pasteur
Zika: silent long-term circulation in Thailand
The circulation of the dengue virus for the past sixty years in South-East Asia is relatively well known. For Zika, the situation is much less clear. In an attempt to shed light on Zika circulation, scientists from the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS, in collaboration with US teams and the Thai National Institute of Health, decided to investigate the history of the Zika virus in Thailand. They made the surprising discovery that it has been circulating in the country for at least 16 years and probably longer. Their findings were published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.