Postmortem evidence of disseminated Zika virus infection in an adult patient

• Main Authors: Rajahram, Giri Shan, Hale, Gillian, Bhatnagar, Julu, Hiu, Jessie, Thayan, Ravindran, William, Timothy, Wong, Kum Thong, Tambyah, Paul Anantharajah, Yeo, Tsin Wen
• Other Authors: Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Viruses; ZIKV Infections; DRNTU::Science::Medicine
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/105746; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/48735
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Fatal complications associated with the Zika virus (ZIKV) have rarely been reported in adults, and detailed postmortem reports are limited (Musso and Gubler, 2016). ZIKV infection is typically a mild uncomplicated febrile illness associated with arthralgia, rash, and conjunctivitis (Duffy et al., 2009). In adults, fatal and non-fatal neurological complications have been reported, including encephalitis and Guillain–Barré syndrome (Soares et al., 2016, Oehler et al., 2014). Non-neurological fatalities have also been reported sporadically in patients from Latin America, who have presented with an acute febrile illness and multi-organ failure (Sarmiento-Ospina et al., 2016, Zonneveld et al., 2016). This report describes the clinical features and postmortem findings of a 61-year-old Malaysian male with co-morbidities, who had a fatal outcome subsequent to an acute febrile and rash illness, with pre- and postmortem evidence of ZIKV infection.