Zika is a genus Flavivirus member of the Flaviviridae. The mosquito-borne Zika virus has no clear natural hosts. Wild primates and human beings can be infected. Zika virus has spread from Brazil, Columbia, other American countries and regions since 2014. It was considered that Zika can lead to microcephaly, which aroused attention from World Health Organization, epidemiologists as well as the public.

Recently, Associate Prof. BI Yuhai led a research team to isolate two Zika virus strains from blood and urine samples from two Chinese patients by using cross inoculation of Vero and C636. The researchers came from the Center for Influenza Research and Early-warning (CASCIRE), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS), Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of Guangdong Province, the Eighth People's Hospital of Guangdong Province, Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Jiangxi Province and Ganzhou, Guangdong Province.

China has confirmed 12 imported cases of Zika virus infection so far. Among them, one case was found in Jiangxi Province, 7cases in Guangdong Province and 4 in Zhejiang Province. Yet, the epidemic and spread of the disease has not been found in China.

CASCIRE is a non-corporate innovation unit of CAS, which aims to study the occurrence and development of influenza and other emerging infectious diseases and early warning intervention. Furthermore, it plays an important role in emerging infectious disease research such as the influenza, the Middle East respiratory syndrome, Ebola, etc.