Zika virus

noun

Zi·​ka virus ˈzē-kə- 

variants or Zika

1

: a flavivirus (species Zika virus of the genus Flavivirus) typically transmitted by aedes mosquitoes (especially Aedes aegypti and A. albopictus) that causes a usually mild illness marked chiefly by fever, joint pain, rash, and conjunctivitis and that has been associated with an increased incidence of microcephaly in infants born to pregnant women infected with the virus

2

or less commonly Zika fever : the illness caused by Zika virus

Examples of Zika virus in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This was the case when Zika virus started spreading around the world. —Andrew Montequin, jsonline.com, 3 July 2025

For the first time since 2019, Zika virus has been detected on Oahu, with the Hawaii Department of Health confirming one case. —Katie Nadworny, Travel + Leisure, 6 June 2025

What To Know In a May 27 press release, Hawaii's DOH confirmed that an individual on the Oahu Island has Zika virus. —Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 May 2025

In 2017, Moderna began developing a potential Zika virus vaccine, while in 2018 BioNTech entered into a partnership with Pfizer to develop mRNA vaccines for influenza, although the large scale funding which drives vaccine projects was still nowhere to be seen. —David Cox, WIRED, 2 Dec. 2020

This year, the county has hired extra people for this work, as part of a pre-emptive strike in the fight against an advancing Zika virus. —Karen Garloch, Charlotte Observer, 30 Jan. 2024

The cause of the Syndrome is unknown, but most patients report symptoms of some kind of infection (COVID-19, Zika virus, a respiratory or gastrointestinal infection) in the weeks proceeding a diagnosis. —Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 20 Sep. 2023

Blinken, Becerra, and Nkengasong addressed various global health challenges in the 21st century that have prompted the growing interest in global health security concerns besides COVID-19, such as Ebola, Zika virus, and HIV/AIDS. —Gabrielle M. Etzel, Washington Examiner, 1 Aug. 2023

Scientists are too — especially when mosquitoes carrying diseases like Zika virus and dengue fever spread northward as the climate warms. —Anna Funk, Discover Magazine, 18 Nov. 2021

Word History

Etymology

after the Zika Forest near Entebbe, Uganda, from where a monkey and mosquitoes containing the virus were captured in 1947-48

First Known Use

1952, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for Zika virus

• antivirus
• herpesvirus
• parvovirus
• reovirus
• retrovirus
• rhinovirus
• rotavirus
• adenovirus
• baculovirus
• coronavirus
• enterovirus
• poliovirus

Medical Definition

Zika virus

noun

Zi·​ka virus ˈzē-kə- 

variants or Zika

1

: a flavivirus (species Zika virus of the genus Flavivirus) typically transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes (especially A. aegypti and A. albopictus) and that causes a usually mild illness marked chiefly by fever, joint pain, rash, and conjunctivitis and that has been associated with an increased incidence of microcephaly in infants born to pregnant women infected with the virus

The Zika virus, spread by mosquitoes, produces an itchy rash, pinkeye, joint pain and fever.

—Lawrence K. Altman, The New York Times

Of greater concern is the explosive Brazilian epidemic of microcephaly, manifested by an apparent 20-fold increase in incidence from 2014 to 2015, which some public health officials believe is caused by Zika virus infections in pregnant women.

—Anthony S. Fauci and David M. Morens, The New England Journal of Medicine

Meanwhile, a virus linked to the mosquitoes known as Zika has spread throughout Brazil, causing thousands of cases of brain damage in babies born with abnormally small heads.

—Joshua Emerson Smith, The Los Angeles Times

2

also Zika fever : the illness caused by Zika virus

Health authorities across South America and the Caribbean are on alert over the spread of Zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease that may be linked to congenital brain deformity.

—Donna Bowater, The Daily Telegraph (London)

An often mild or inapparent disease caused by a flavivirus (an arbovirus genus), Zika fever comes with the scenery in many parts of Africa and Asia.

—Wayne Biddle, A Field Guide to Germs