More than two billion people could be at risk from Zika virus outbreaks in parts of Africa and Asia, researchers warned. In a study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, researchers from the University of Toronto used modeling to identify the areas around the world most at risk for Zika virus, according to BBC. 

    After considering mosquito activity, air travel data and climate information, the researchers said potentially 2.6 billion people living in low-resource parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific region could be sickened by Zika virus. Populations in India, Indonesia and Nigeria are some of the most vulnerable to transmission, the researchers said.  However, they acknowledge that immunity to the virus could already exist in some areas and could reduce the risk. 

    The research team, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Oxford University and the University of Toronto, Canada, said "vast numbers" of people were living in environments where it would be hard to prevent, detect and respond to the virus.

    They looked at factors such as the numbers of people who travelled from Zika-affected areas in South America to Africa and Asia, the presence of mosquitoes that can pass on the virus, and the climate in the regions to assess which countries could be most at risk from an outbreak.

    The researchers based their conclusions on observations made at a Brazilian hospital. Between January and August of this year, the Zika Research Network (Rede Zika) conducted molecular blood tests on 800 people with suspected dengue virus at the Hospital de Base, Sao Jose do Rio Preto's reference hospital.

    Only half of those cases (400) were dengue, and 100 were Zika virus. The remaining 300 cases were not related to any arboviruses and were most likely influenza. Currently, the World Health Organization suggests that all suspected cases of dengue be treated as such, because the disease can be much more severe than related flaviviruses

Source: QNA