Zika

[ zee-kuh ]

/ ˈzi kə /

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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.

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ARE YOU A TRUE BLUE CHAMPION OF THESE "BLUE" SYNONYMS?

We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

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Which of the following words describes “sky blue”?

navy

beryl

azure

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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

Words nearby Zika

Zigong, Ziguinchor, zigzag, zigzagger, zigzag rule, Zika, Zika virus, zikr, zila, zila parishad, zilch

How to use Zika in a sentence

Investigators believe the strategy may also be effective in preventing other mosquito-borne viral diseases, including Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever.
The 10 Most Important Health Breakthroughs You Missed During the Pandemic|Jeffrey Kluger|June 10, 2021|Time
Zika virus, linked to devastating neurological disorders, made its way to Florida in 2016, causing further alarm.
Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Have Come to the U.S. Will They Work?|Alejandro de la Garza / Florida Keys, Fl.|May 9, 2021|Time
They feed almost exclusively on humans, and can transmit Zika and Dengue viruses.
Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Have Come to the U.S. Will They Work?|Alejandro de la Garza / Florida Keys, Fl.|May 9, 2021|Time
By 2017, Weissman’s lab had shown how to vaccinate mice and monkeys against the Zika virus using messenger RNA, an effort that soon won funding from BioNTech.
The next act for messenger RNA could be bigger than covid vaccines|David Rotman|February 5, 2021|MIT Technology Review

More recently, for example, scientists considered intentionally infecting volunteers with the Zika virus to test vaccines against that disease, but ultimately decided they didn’t have enough data to justify the risk.
U.K. Plans 'Challenge Trials,' Which Will Intentionally Give People COVID-19 to Test Vaccines|Alice Park|October 20, 2020|Time