How Zika Spreads

Though it hasn't before propagated as virulently as in its current outbreak in the Americas, the virus's use of mosquitoes as carriers give it a broad potential range.

Source: Miguel Gutierrez/EFE/Zuma Press
Last updated June 6, 2016 at 4:30 p.m. ET
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Published Jan. 28, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. ET
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The Zika virus, identified in Uganda in 1947, has spread in Latin America since its 2014 arrival in Brazil.

Countries and territories that have had evidence of Zika virus transmission and antibodies

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Zika's primary carrier is the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which flourishes in warm climes around the world...

Predicted habitats of the main mosquito that transmits the Zika virus

Sources: Kraemer MUG et al., eLife Sciences, University of Oxford; photo by Marvin Recinos/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images (aegypti)

...but it can also be transmitted in some cases by a mosquito that ranges as far north as New York.

Predicted habitats of a second mosquito that can also spread the virus

Sources: Kraemer MUG et al., eLife Sciences, University of Oxford; photo by James Gathany/Centers for Disease Control (albopictus)