Emerging Infectious RNA Viruses

Abstract

This review will define what constitutes an emerging infectious disease (EID) and what impact these have on public health. A discussion of factors related to the spread of EIDs such as, air travel, urbanization and climate change is presented. Furthermore, since most EIDs have a zoonotic origin, the importance of the rapidly changing dynamic world interaction which occurs between the humans, animals and the environment is discussed. It is significant that a high number of EIDs are RNA viruses, they have a rapid rate of mutation which enables them to readily adapt to a new host. Many examples of these cause severe diseases in humans such as Dengue virus (DENV), West Nile virus (WNV) Zika virus (ZIKV), Tick Borne Encephalitis virus (TBEV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Yellow Fever virus (YFV). Indeed, it is notable that in 2018 the prioritised 8 diseases from the World Health Orgnisation (WHO), of which 7 are caused by RNA viruses. This review will focus the Flaviviridae RNA virus family and will use ZIKV as an example. ZIKV is an arbovirus spread by insect vectors in many parts of the world, and it was recently linked with Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) which causes reversible loss of neuronal function and muscular strength. However, ZIKV is best known for its causative link with microcephaly in newborns, which is the main reason for the strenuous efforts to control this pathogen. A discussion of these control measures is presented combined with an assessment of their potential impact on the spread of ZIKV and human health