Zika

[ zee-kuh ]

/ ˈzi kə /

noun

Also called Zika fever, Zika disease, Zika virus disease. an illness caused by a chiefly mosquito-borne virus of the genus Flavivirus, typically characterized by mild fever, rash, and joint pain.

the virus that causes this illness; Zika virus.

Origin of Zika

First recorded in 1950–55, Zika is from the Luganda word zika “overgrown”; the virus was first identified in a rhesus monkey in the Zika Forest in Uganda