An emerging arbovirus of the Flaviviridae family called ZIKV and others like dengue, West Nile, yellow fever, and Japanese encephalitis virus, causes a mosquito-borne disease transmitted by the Aedes genus, with recent outbreaks in the South Pacific. Here we examine the importance of human skin in the entry of ZIKV and its contribution to the induction of antiviral immune responses. Zika virus (ZIKV) is an arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) in the genus Flavivirus and the family Flaviviridae. ZIKV was first isolated from a nonhuman primate in 1947 and from mosquitoes in 1948 in Africa, and ZIKV infections in humans were sporadic for half a century before emerging in the Pacific and the Americas. ZIKV is usually transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes. The clinical presentation of Zika fever is nonspecific and can be misdiagnosed as other infectious diseases, especially those due to arboviruses such as dengue and chikungunya. There is a high potential for ZIKV emergence in urban centers in the tropics that are infested with competent mosquito vectors such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. Based on clinical criteria alone, ZIKV cannot be reliably distinguished from infections with other pathogens that cause an undifferentiated systemic febrile illness, including infections with two common arboviruses, dengue virus and chikungunya virus.

Introduction: The performance of growing rabbits fed cassava root meal as replacement for maize were studied using twenty crossbreed Weaner rabbits. Methods: The cassava root meal was included at 0, 25, 50 and 75% to replace maize in the diets designated as diets 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. The rabbits were randomly allocated to four diets. The rats had access to feed and water provided ad libitum throughout the experimental period of 48 days. Results: The results showed a non-significant treatment effect on all the performance parameters. The daily feed intake (35.132-47.36 g), daily weight gain (7.84-12.56 g) and feed conservation ratio (3.56-4.48 g) were not influenced by the dietary levels of cassava root meal. The feed cost per kg and feed cost per weight gain showed progressive decrease with increase in the CRM inclusion levels. Conclusions: The carcass analysis also showed a non-significant treatment effect on most of the parameters measured except the weight of the legs that was affected. In conclusion, CRM can be included in Weaner diets of rabbits as an energy source at 50% level of replacement for maize without compromising performance and carcass yield, with concomitant reduction in feed cost.