The Zika virus originated in Africa and causes a febrile illness but was little known until it spread within Brazil in 2014. It is now found from Mexico to Paraguay as well as in other parts of the world and has been linked to serious birth defects. The disease shows no signs of abating. There are no drugs or no vaccine, so the method of control is to attack the mosquito. This lecture will discuss the virus and its epidemiology and compare it with the dengue fever virus about which much more is known. What makes the mosquito (Aedes aegypti) a super efficient transmitter of viruses? and how it might be controlled by the use of genetically modified mosquitoes? The lecture will also discuss the 'nightmare scenario' of the increased range of the mosquito as a result of climate change.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-zika-virus-dengue-and-the-yellow-fever-mosquito

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.

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