/ Microcephaly Content for 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Davis en /news/uc-davis-experts-zika-virus-1 <p>Zika virus, first identified in monkeys in 1947 and in humans in 1952, has become a major health concern since 2015, when health officials in Brazil began to notice that an outbreak of the virus coincided with a significant increase in newborn babies with microcephaly, or abnormally small heads.&nbsp;Zika virus was previously known only to cause relatively mild symptoms, including fever and rash, in infected people.&nbsp;The virus is transmitted to people by the Aedes group of mosquitoes and is known to be present in Africa, South America, Central America and the Western Pacific.</p> January 29, 2016 - 2:31pm Patricia Bailey /news/uc-davis-experts-zika-virus-1