Several years before the COVID-19 pandemic, another outbreak that never reached pandemic status resulted in comparable public health fears around the globe. Specifically, the Zika virus, an RNA virus named after the Ugandan forest where it was first identified, which is related to other infamous viruses like the West Nile virus and yellow fever.
Although initially limited to a narrow belt near the equator, Zika began to spread worldwide in 2007, culminating in an epidemic from 2015 to 2016. Many victims of that epidemic — especially children whose mothers became infected while pregnant with them — still live with the effects.
