zikahttp://www.oed.com/dictionary/zika_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_useZika, n.
First published 2017

Zikanoun

  1. 1952–
    A mosquito-borne flavivirus, originally identified in African monkeys but increasingly affecting human populations, which can cause symptoms including mild fever, rash, and (less commonly) neurological disorders, and has more recently been implicated in the development of congenital microcephaly in children whose mothers were infected during pregnancy (more fully Zika virus). Also: the disease caused by this virus (more fully Zika fever).
    Transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes, Zika was rarely reported in humans before localized outbreaks in Micronesia (2007) and French Polynesia (2013); a major epidemic in the Americas and the Pacific began in Brazil in early 2015.
    1. 1952
      This virus has been called Zika virus after the geographical name of the area from where the isolations were made.
      G. W. A. Dick et al. in Transactions of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene vol. 46 510
    2. 1953
      The appalling list of viruses is shown by a list of the infections studied in the Lagos Institute: Bunyamwera, Bwamba fever.., W. Nile, Yellow fever, and Zika.
      African Affairs vol. 52 61
    3. 1988
      Zika fever , a poorly understood viral fever transmitted by mosquitoes from monkeys.
      J. C. Bell et al., Zoonoses 222
    4. 2007
      The Zika virus, spread by mosquitoes, produces an itchy rash, pinkeye, joint pain and fever... Now Zika has made its first appearance in Micronesia, on the island of Yap.
      New York Times (National edition) 3 July d5/1
    5. 2015
      That little rash you have? Let's hope it's not Zika fever.
      Washington Post (Nexis) 22 September e1
    6. 2016
      The World Health Organisation has identified certain parts of Southern France and Spain, areas around the Black Sea and Madeira as probable sites where zika could soon emerge.
      Irish Daily Mail (Nexis) 4 October 33

Zika, n. was first published in March 2017.

Zika, n. was last modified in December 2024.