SynthesisBulletin of the World Health Organization2018
Prevalence of asymptomatic Zika virus infection: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 93 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
93 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 177 citations in OpenAlex.
- The magnitude of flaviviruses infection in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Pooled it
- Postnatal symptomatic Zika virus infections in children and adolescents: A systematic review.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2020Pooled it
- Another piece of the Zika puzzle: assessing the associated factors to microcephaly in a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2020Pooled it
- The frequency and clinical presentation of Zika virus coinfections: a systematic review.BMJ global health · 2020Pooled it
- Health outcomes associated with Zika virus infection in humans: a systematic review of systematic reviews.BMJ open · 2019Pooled it
- Undernutrition enhances host attractiveness to mosquitoes and transmission of mosquito-borne diseases.Cell research · 2026Article
- Proof-of-Concept Machine Learning Framework for Arboviral Disease Classification Using Literature-Derived Synthetic Data: Methodological Development Preceding Clinical Validation.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- How to conduct an individual participant data meta-analysis in response to an emerging pathogen: Lessons learned from Zika and COVID-19.Research synthesis methods · 2026Review
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of Zika virus epidemiology.Nature health · 2026Article
- Future disease burden due to the rise of emerging infectious disease secondary to climate change may be being under-estimated.Virulence · 2025Article
- Social determinants impact both viral infections and brain development.Pediatric research · 2025Review
- Monitoring Dengue Virus inViruses · 2025Article
- Factors associated with infection and hospitalization of Zika cases during the 2016-2018 outbreak in Mexico.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Estimating Zika Virus Seroprevalence in a Dengue Virus-Endemic Population: The Use of Blood Donors and Multiplex Serology to Monitor Arbovirus Outbreaks in the Dutch Caribbean.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Mapping the risk of Zika virus infections in pregnant persons and microcephaly in newborns in relation to socioeconomic indicators in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil: A spatial analysis (2015 to 2021).PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Role of non-human primate models in accelerating research and developing countermeasures against Zika virus infection.The Lancet. Microbe · 2025Review
- Transfusion-transmitted infections: risks and mitigation strategies for Oropouche virus and other emerging arboviruses in Latin America and the Caribbean.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2025Review
- Syndemic Factors Associated with Zika Virus Infection Prevalence and Risk Factors in a Cohort of Women Living in Endemic Areas for Arboviruses in Northeast Brazil.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2025Article
- Neonatal Microcephaly and Central Nervous System Abnormalities During the Zika Outbreak in Rio de Janeiro.Viruses · 2025Article
- Seroprevalence, incidence estimates, and environmental risk factors for dengue, chikungunya, and Zika infection amongst children living in informal urban settlements in Indonesia and Fiji.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
33 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo conduct a systematic review to estimate the prevalence of asymptomatic Zika virus infection in the general population and in specific population groups.
methodsWe searched PubMed®, Embase® and LILACS online databases from inception to 26 January 2018. We included observational epidemiological studies where laboratory testing was used to confirm positive exposure of participants to Zika virus and in which Zika virus symptom status was also recorded. We excluded studies in which having symptoms of Zika virus was a criterion for inclusion. The main outcome assessed was percentage of all Zika virus-positive participants who were asymptomatic. We used a quality-effects approach and the double arcsine transformation for the meta-analysis.
findingsWe assessed 753 studies for inclusion, of which 23 were included in the meta-analysis, totalling 11 305 Zika virus-positive participants. The high degree of heterogeneity in the studies (
conclusionBetter-quality research is needed, using standardized methods, to determine the true prevalence of asymptomatic Zika virus and whether it varies between populations or over time.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.