Zika Virus In Asymptomatic Blood Donors In Martinique

Zika fever is an Aedes-borne disease caused by a flavivirus (Zika virus, ZIKV, genus Flavivirus). During the past years ZIKV spread in Polynesia, South-America and the Caribbean. Most ZIKV infections are asymptomatic or result in mild febrile disease with rash and conjunctivitis. Attention was recently drawn to non-vectored ZIKV transmission, including sexual, probable blood-borne and mother-to-fetus transmission, and to severe forms such as Guillain-Barre syndrome, acute neurological infections and fetal abnormalities (including microcephaly). Many aspects of Zika fever natural history remain unknown, e.g. the proportion of asymptomatic cases and the duration of viremia. Estimating the prevalence of Zika infections is difficult because a large proportion of infected individuals do not seek medical attention and seroprevalence studies are hampered by antigenic cross-reactivity with other flaviviruses, e.g. dengue virus. Here, we present a study of ZIKV infection in blooddonors from Martinique island (French West Indies, Caribbean region), with novel epidemiological, biological and clinical information that refine the picture of Zika fever in adults.