This timeline charts the origin and spread of the Zika virus from its discovery in Uganda nearly 70 years ago:
1947 - Scientists researching yellow fever in Uganda's Zika Forest identify the virus in a rhesus monkey
1948 - Virus recovered from Aedes africanus mosquito in Zika Forest
1952 - First human cases detected in Uganda and Tanzania
1954 - Virus found in Nigeria
1960s-1980s - Zika detected in mosquitoes and monkeys across equatorial Africa
1969–1983 - Zika found in equatorial Asia, including India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan
2007 - Zika spreads from Africa and Asia, first large outbreak on Pacific island of Yap
2012 - Researchers identify two distinct lineages of the virus, African and Asian
2013–2014 - Zika outbreaks in French Polynesia, Easter Island, the Cook Islands and New Caledonia. Retrospective analysis shows possible link to birth defects and severe neurological complications in babies in French Polynesia
March 2, 2015 - Brazil reports illness characterised by skin rash in northeastern states
April 29, 2015 - Brazilian samples test positive for Zika
July 17, 2015 - Brazil reports detection of neurological disorders in newborns associated with history of infection
October 5, 2015 - Cape Verde has cases of illness with skin rash
October 22, 2015 - Colombia confirms cases of Zika
October 30, 2015 - Brazil reports increase in microcephaly, abnormally small heads, among newborns
November 11, 2015 - Brazil declares public health emergency
November 2015-Jan 2016 - Cases reported in Suriname, Panama, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Venezuela, French Guiana, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Guyana, Ecuador, Barbados, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Curacao, Jamaica
February 1, 2016 - World Health Organization declares a public health emergency of international concern
February 2, 2016 - First case of Zika transmission in United States; local health officials say likely contracted through sex, not mosquito bite.
February 5, 2016- Outbreaks confirmed in 33 countries in the Americas
February 12, 2016 - World Health Organization says suspected link between Zika and the neurological disorders microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome could be confirmed in weeks.
February 12, 2016 - Brazil investigating potential link between Zika infections and 4,314 suspected cases of microcephaly. Of those, 462 confirmed as microcephaly and 41 determined to be linked to virus.
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