From Health 24
November 15, 2018
Wild monkeys in South America carry the Zika virus, which can then be transmitted to people via mosquitoes, researchers report.
The scientists said the finding suggests it may be impossible to eradicate the virus in the Americas.
“Our findings are important because they change our understanding of the ecology and transmission of Zika virus in the Americas,” said senior study author Nikos Vasilakis. He’s a professor in the department of pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
“The possibility of a natural transmission cycle involving local mosquitoes and wild local primates as a reservoir and amplification host will definitely impact our predictions of new outbreaks in the Americas, because we cannot eradicate this natural transmission cycle,” Vasilakis said in a university news release.