We need to remember that sika is a vector borne disease, which means that the way to stop or at least slow down transmission is to control de mosquito Aedes aegypti from passing the virus from infected hosts to healthy ones. The classical concept of quarantine is probably not as effective when transmission person to person is not the main mean of transmission (it is mentioned as a possibility). People infected by sika requires too a level of protection from mosquitoes to avoid to become a reservoir for the mosquitoes.

Hello Jia,

Despite the hype, it is not reasonable to compare Zika and Ebola. First, though some have had babies born with microcephaly, only 1 in 5 people show symptoms. Of those the majority experience a mild fever that is similar but less severe than Dengue fever. Second, though it is spreading rapidly in areas with high mosquito density and some evidence suggest sexual transmission, it is much less infectious than Ebola and requires transmission from an intermediate vector-Ebola can be spread by contact with viral particles through mucous membranes. Finally, there are many more Zika infections than Ebola, making screening very difficult and impractical. Though there is evidence that viral loads are high in urine, which could lead to a simple dip-stick assay instead of costly reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, there are currently no commercial Zika diagnostics. By the Olympics, there might be and that will be an interesting scenario due to the potential for Zika to disseminate throughout the tropical countries of the World. Consider another Flavavirus, Chikungunya, it rapidly spread through the Caribbean in 2015, then disappeared. This was because so many hot infected and acquired immunity that transmission in those countries is now blocked by a lack of susceptible population members. Though Zika is no Ebola, it will be fascinating to see how this epidemic behaves in 2016  

Hope that helps!

Alex

Fully agree. Moreover, it is not any mosquito host that enables Zika virus replication and subsequent transmission: see eg http://www.cdc.gov/zika/transmission/index.html. These competent mosquitoes are not found everywhere, thus limiting the epidemic risk to areas infested by these mosquito species. See http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/healthtopics/vectors/vector-maps/Pages/VBORNET_maps.aspx for Europe.

However, in those areas infested by mosquitoes competent for Zika virus, it is advisable to avoid the contact between viremic persons and mosquitoes. The big problem is that most Zika-infected people show little or no clinical signs (http://www.cdc.gov/zika/symptoms/index.html): most of them remain undetected by surveillance systems.

Zika virus and no travel restrictions:

The current understanding of the history of Zika virus, its spread, clinical presentation and epidemiology does not warrant restrictions of people travel from  affected areas or the need to quarantine persons suspected or confirmed with ZikaV infection.

Isolation and quarantine are two different public health measures to contain disease outbreaks which are transmitted from person to person. Zika virus is transmitted by mosquito bites.

Where required Infected people should be isolated to prevent the transmission of the virus to other people (including pregnant women) by preventing the contact of the patient infected with Zika Virus with mosquitoes, at least during the first week of the disease. (PAHO-2016). it should be noted that 70-80% persons infected with Zika V are asymptomatic.

Based the technical advise of the IHR committee (WHO- 2016),  the Director General of WHO issued statement as follows: 

!) There should be no restrictions on travel or trade with countries, areas and/or territories with Zika virus transmission.

2) Travelers to areas with Zika virus transmission should be provided with up to date advice on potential risks and appropriate measures to reduce the possibility of exposure to mosquito bites.

3) Standard WHO recommendations regarding disinsection of aircraft and airports should be implemented.

http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/204348/1/zikasitrep_5Feb2016_eng.pdf?ua=1

Due to new speculations/reports that someone could contract the disease through intimate contact, we may want to believe that Zikka Virus victims should be quarantined, like in the case of Ebola. I my opinion quarantine will amount to nothing when the virus is spread through mosquitoes. The nature of quarantine in this case would be worse than death row imprisonment.

Just as the former responders, i will not advocate for the quarantine policy. Quarantine should be a least a partial solution to  a problem. In the case of Zika virus i don't see how this option could help. The NIH of USA has launched a call for research for a vaccine and certainly this will be a way out.

The answer by Eva is quite elaborate . It comes to the conclusion that there is no point for quarantine at this juncture.

Thanks Eva...this info is very helpful and interesting

The investigation of the causation process is on. It is clear that all known confounding variables will be checked. The causality of the virus Zika to the observed health event (microcephally) is far from certain.

Zikka Virus is an interesting topic so far....so interesting that the  question of whether quarantining people exposed to Zikka virus like in the case of ebola became topical in the recent GOP debate

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Direct Human to human transmission via air droplet, and human excreta is either not reported or extremely rare such via sexual contact. The transmission is mainly through bite by infected Aides female mosquito. Therefore, based on available evidence people coming from endemic area need not be quarantine.  However, because of the risk of sexual transmission, people need use condom properly, and consistently whenever they have sex. This is especially important for pregnant women, and probably for those who plan to become pregnant.              

Given the reports it looks that this is man made disaster. We need to engage the agencies who have been dealing with this virus and really find out how people and organizations have ventured into science which is not yet fully understood. At international level UN agency including WHO must get activity engaged in regulating/modulating the agencies which directly deal with such high risk businesses. Instead of protecting the the big business, we need some sensible regulation in place. The way the virus is spreading, it looks quarantine will not be solution, but creating more awareness about the virus and how it spreads.

We need to remember that sika is a vector borne disease, which means that the way to stop or at least slow down transmission is to control de mosquito Aedes aegypti from passing the virus from infected hosts to healthy ones. The classical concept of quarantine is probably not as effective when transmission person to person is not the main mean of transmission (it is mentioned as a possibility). People infected by sika requires too a level of protection from mosquitoes to avoid to become a reservoir for the mosquitoes.

As this is a mosquito borne disease, fumigation of vessels entering the country, inland mosquito control measures, extensive patient centered epidemiological investigation within country (contact tracing, personal protection by using repellents during day time, fumigation of certain radius around patients residence, container/breeding places removal, early medical attention for patient with symptoms) will limit it becoming an epidemic in a country.  In my opinion it will affect tropical countries rather than temperate countries as for Dengue. Outbreak response strategies applied for Dengue can be applied for this disease too.

Initial quarantine of infected individuals is out of the question. The virus is vector borne  and quarantine will be of little effect. Again this virus is not entirely new in the mosquito (aedes) population and by extension the human population. More than 40% of people in "endemic" regions are immune to the disease. My take on this is that the adoption of anti-mosquito measures especially by the vulnerable population of pregnant women, will render the disease of little public health importance.

As elucidated above, Zika's vector is the Aedes  aegypti mosquito, quarantine of affected individuals is not the best approach. Sources for information that frame this answer and excellent reference links are found at the American Nurses Association's Zika Virus Information page for providers ( with links to the CDC's recommendations for pregnant women etc.)  found in the link below:

http://nursingworld.org/zika-virus-information

 Additional and up-to-the moment information on developing strategies to combat Zika can be accessed from this link as well - a World Health Organization initiative encouraging evidence-based research sharing and review can be found at:

http://nursingworld.org/HomepageCategory/NursingInsider/WHO-Launches-Zika-Data-Sharing-Protocol.html

Indeed quarantine is not the best option to control the transmission given the level of knowledge about epidemiology and transmission. Even the causality /association of sexual transmission is not yet admitted or validated. Vector control remain thus far the mainstay.

There will be little benefit  (if any) achieved by quarantine. More benefit will be achieved by Vector control of the mosquito Aedes aegypti in order to curb the passing on of the virus from infected hosts to healthy persons.

Quarantine will be useless. If sexual transmission become established, the best measure will be condom use for at least 4 weeks after returning from an endemic area regardless of symptomatic disease,as near 60-80% of infected people are asymptomatic.