title: Zika virus: oral healthcare implications.
abstract: Zika virus (ZIKV) infection has been recognised since 1947, but just recently it became a worldwide major public health problem. The most common features of ZIKV infection are fever, cutaneous rash, arthralgia and conjunctivitis but most affected patients with the clinical disease present with only mild symptoms. However, severe neurological complications have been described: there is an occasional association with Guillain-Barre syndrome, and emerging data indicate an association between vertical transmission of ZIKV infection and microcephaly, but no specific orofacial manifestations have yet been reported. ZIKV is present in body fluids and has also been demonstrated in the saliva, but there is as yet no reliable evidence to support ZIKV transmission via this pathway. Transmission in oral health care should be effectively prevented using standard infection control measures. There are currently no specific treatments for Zika virus disease and no vaccines available, so prevention of ZIKV is based on vector control.
authors.affiliation: Oral Medicine Unit, Departamento de Clínica e Odontologia Preventiva, Universidade Federal de Pernamuco, Recife, Brazil.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Leão
authors.affiliation: Oral Medicine Unit, Departamento de Clínica e Odontologia Preventiva, Universidade Federal de Pernamuco, Recife, Brazil.
authors.forename: L A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4979-4318
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Gueiros
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Chirurgiche e Odontoiatriche, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lodi
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: WHO Collaborating Centre for Oral Health-General Health, UCL, London, UK.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scully
mesh_terms: D003729:Dental Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000071244:Zika Virus; D000071243:Zika Virus Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission
keywords: Arboviruses; Zika virus; dental; epidemiology; oral