Zika hasn’t been in the news much, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone
Herd immunity may be preventing more big outbreaks
Less than a year after the World Health Organization declared Zika is no longer a public health emergency, the virus seems to have fallen from public consciousness, at least outside of heavily affected areas. The mosquito-borne virus staged a massive assault on the Western Hemisphere in 2015 and 2016 (SN: 12/24/16, p. 19), but this year, Zika appears to be in retreat.
In the hardest-hit countries, data from each country’s department of health shows a striking drop in locally acquired cases, that is, ones caused by bites from local, infected mosquitoes. For instance: