icddr,b identifies 1st cluster of Zika virus cases in Bangladesh from 2023 samples

Scientists at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), have identified a cluster of Zika virus infections in Bangladesh for the first time.

The discovery came from a small-scale targeted screening of patient samples in 2023, revealing five Zika virus cases in Dhaka, according to a report published on the icddr,b website today (3 March).

In this latest study, researchers screened 152 fever patients with Zika-like symptoms at icddr,b's diagnostic facility in Mohakhali, Dhaka. 

PCR-based testing confirmed Zika virus infections in five individuals.

All cases were detected within a one-kilometre radius, with patients having no history of international travel in the past two years. The timing of their diagnoses suggests a local chain of transmission.

One of the five infected with the Zika virus was also infected with dengue, making it the first coinfection detected in Bangladesh.

Zika virus infection likely remains underdiagnosed and underreported for two reasons: many cases do not produce major symptoms, with only about 20% of infected individuals developing a noticeable febrile illness; and symptoms such as headache, fever, and muscle pain, when present, are similar to dengue and chikungunya. 

However, Zika virus infection can also cause serious foetal complications when infecting pregnant women, such as microcephaly, leading to an increased risk of death and intellectual disability in the infant.

Therefore, even though Zika virus infection is rarely fatal in healthy individuals, the risk of transmission to pregnant women makes surveillance and control of the virus a public health priority. 

It can circulate not only through mosquitoes but also via sexual intercourse, blood transfusion, mother-to-child perinatal transmission, or secondary non-sexual physical contact.