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TIMELINE-Zika's origin and global spread

by Reuters
Tuesday, 23 February 2016 23:46 GMT

Group Leader, Dr Masafumi Inoue of Agency for Science Technology and Research's (A*STAR) Experimental Therapeutics Centre shows a sample to be tested with the Zika virus diagnostic test kit at their laboratory in Singapore, February 10, 2016. REUTERS/Edgar Su

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A look at the origin and spread of the Zika virus from its discovery in Uganda nearly 70 years ago

Feb 23 (Reuters) - The following timeline charts the origin and spread of the Zika virus from its discovery nearly 70 years ago:

1947 - Scientists researching yellow fever in Uganda's Zika Forest identify the virus in a rhesus monkey

1948 - Virus recovered from Aedes africanus mosquito in Zika Forest

1952 - First human cases detected in Uganda and Tanzania

1954 - Virus found in Nigeria

1960s-80s - Zika detected in mosquitoes and monkeys across equatorial Africa

1969-83 - Zika found in equatorial Asia, including India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan

2007 - Zika spreads from Africa and Asia, first large outbreak on Pacific island of Yap

2012 - Researchers identify two distinct lineages of the virus, African and Asian

2013-14 - Zika outbreaks in French Polynesia, Easter Island, the Cook Islands and New Caledonia. Retrospective analysis shows possible link to birth defects and severe neurological complications in babies in French Polynesia

March 2, 2015 - Brazil reports illness characterised by skin rash in northeastern states

July 17 - Brazil reports detection of neurological disorders in newborns associated with history of infection

Oct. 5 - Cape Verde has cases of illness with skin rash

Oct. 22 - Colombia confirms cases of Zika

Oct. 30 - Brazil reports increase in microcephaly, abnormally small heads, among newborns

Nov. 11 - Brazil declares public health emergency

November 2015-January 2016 - Cases reported in Suriname, Panama, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Venezuela, French Guiana, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Guyana, Ecuador, Barbados, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Curacao, Jamaica

Feb. 1 - World Health Organization (WHO) declares public health emergency of international concern

Feb. 2 - First case of Zika transmission in United States; local health officials say likely contracted through sex, not mosquito bite

Feb. 5- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says virus being actively transmitted in 30 countries, mostly in the Americas

Feb. 8 - U.S. President Barack Obama requests $1.8 billion to fight Zika

Feb. 12 - Brazil investigating potential link between Zika infections and 4,314 suspected cases of microcephaly. Of those, 462 confirmed as microcephaly and 41 determined to be linked to virus

Feb. 17 - Brazil investigating potential link between Zika and 4,443 suspected cases of microcephaly. Of those, 508 confirmed as microcephaly and most of those cases are linked to the virus. WHO seeks $56 million to fight Zika.

Feb. 18 - CDC adds Aruba and Bonaire to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 32.

Feb. 23 - CDC investigating 14 cases of possible sexual transmission of Zika.

CDC adds Trinidad and Tobago and Marshall Islands to countries and territories with active outbreaks, bringing total to 34.

Brazil raises confirmed microcephaly cases to 583 and suspected cases to 4,107.

Source: World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Reuters

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Toni Reinhold, Lisa Shumaker and Bernard Orr)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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