, March 3 -- Scientists at icddr,b have recently identified five cases among patient samples collected in 2023, representing the first identification of a cluster of Zika-infected patients in Bangladesh.

The information was published on the icddr,b website on Monday.

Zika virus, classified as a significant emerging pathogen, was first detected in humans in Nigeria in 1954. It remained undetected in Asia and Africa for over fifty years.

In Bangladesh, a 2016 retrospective surveillance study by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control & Research (IEDCR) confirmed the country's first Zika-positive case. The sample, collected in 2014 from a patient with no history of international travel, indicated that the virus had been present in ...