Zika virus: what is it and what does it cause?

The Zika virus, contrary to common thought, is a virus that comes from afar; it remained in the dark for almost 70 years: it was isolated in a monkey in the Zika forest in Uganda as early as 1947, but the first case of infection human history dates back to 1954, in Nigeria. However, it is only since the early months of 2015 that this viral agent has begun to cause a growing fear due to its rapid spread in Latin American countries.