According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, Zika was first found in monkeys in 1947 in Uganda. The virus is named for the Zika Forest there. Zika was first detected in humans in 1952 in Uganda and also the United Republic of Tanzania.
Since then outbreaks have been reported in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands and now the Americas. The WHO reports that the first large outbreak was reported in 2007 in what is now the Federated States of Micronesia. But in July 2015, Brazil reported an association between the virus and Guillain-Barré syndrome and later in October 2015 an association to microcephaly.
