In the article entitled "Investigating the Potential Role of North American Animals as Hosts for Zika Virus," coauthors Izabela Ragan, Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine (Manhattan, KS), and Emily Blizzard, Paul Gordy, and Richard Bowen, Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO) report on their experimental infection of animals common in North America. The researchers tested the animals' blood for the presence of infectious virus and antibodies to Zika virus. "This paper answers a very important question regarding the potential role of non-primate vertebrates in the transmission cycle of Zika virus," says Stephen Higgs, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, and Director, Biosecurity Research Institute, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS. "It is vitally important to understand the potential for the virus to be transmitted outside of a human-mosquito cycle. The possibility that domesticated or wild animals living in close proximity to humans might serve as an unseen reservoir for Zika virus would have a great impact on our ability to control Zika virus in an urban environment."

http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/vbz.2016.2099