2022
Author(s): Nederstigt C, Evers SC, Van Paassen J, Van Westerloo DJ
In the last two years we have experienced the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in our lives and hospitals. Pandemics are part of the history of humanity and we can be certain that in the future new pandemics will appear. In fact, due to the growth in the human population, increased travel and global warming, it is to be expected that new pandemic pathogens will arise more frequently than before. Additionally, decreased barriers between animals and humans which will give rise to spillover events which will result in the introduction of new zoonotic pathogens in humans. In each of the parts of this series we will, in a short format, highlight a potential pandemic pathogen and describe its characteristics, history and potential for global pandemics. This part of the series is devoted to the Zika virus (ZIKV). We describe the history of ZIKV, the clinical picture and finally, we conclude with a discussion about the pandemic risk of ZIKV infection.