Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Oliver J Brady
Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
David M Pigott
Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
Freya M Shearer
Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Daniel J Weiss
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Nick Golding
Department of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, United Kingdom
Corrine W Ruktanonchai
WorldPop project, Department of Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
Peter W Gething
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Emily Cohn
Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United Kingdom
John S Brownstein
Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United Kingdom
Kamran Khan
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada
Andrew J Tatem
WorldPop project, Department of Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom; Flowminder Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden
Thomas Jaenisch
Section Clinical Tropical Medicine, Department for Infectious Diseases, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany; German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Heidelberg partner site, Heidelberg, Germany
Christopher JL Murray
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
Fatima Marinho
Secretariat of Health Surveillance, Ministry of Health Brazil, Brasilia, Brazil
Thomas W Scott
Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California Davis, Davis, United States
Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, United States
Zika virus was discovered in Uganda in 1947 and is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, which also act as vectors for dengue and chikungunya viruses throughout much of the tropical world. In 2007, an outbreak in the Federated States of Micronesia sparked public health concern. In 2013, the virus began to spread across other parts of Oceania and in 2015, a large outbreak in Latin America began in Brazil. Possible associations with microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome observed in this outbreak have raised concerns about continued global spread of Zika virus, prompting its declaration as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization. We conducted species distribution modelling to map environmental suitability for Zika. We show a large portion of tropical and sub-tropical regions globally have suitable environmental conditions with over 2.17 billion people inhabiting these areas.
