🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 51 (from laksa048)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa051.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/02/health/zika-forest-viral-birthplace\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/02/health/zika-forest-viral-birthplace\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/02\/health\/zika-forest-viral-birthplace","crawl_time":1775943880,"first_indexed_time":1746100320,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,cnn!www,\/2016\/02\/02\/health\/zika-forest-viral-birthplace s443","src_root_hash":"2312100192101524051","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Zika virus birthplace: Uganda’s Zika Forest | CNN","meta_descriptions":["Explosive spread of the Zika virus may have caught world by surprise, but its namesake, Uganda’s Zika forest has been a place for study for over half a century."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Story highlights\nResearchers first identified the Zika virus in 1947 after a fever developed in a rhesus monkey\nMany scientists believe the 2007 strain of Zika has mutated from the original virus, with increased virulence\nZika Forest, Uganda\nCNN\n — \nThe turnoff into the Zika Forest is easy to miss, just a small break in the tree line along the main road between Entebbe Airport and Uganda’s capital, Kampala. A worn-out sign announcing its start only comes into view after a journey down a small dirt path.\nThe\nexplosive spread of the Zika virus\nmay have caught the world by surprise, but its namesake, the forest preserve near the edge of Lake Victoria, isn’t a place to just stumble on to. The researchers who have been coming here for more than a half-century come with a purpose: to study viruses and the mosquitoes that carry them.\nZika sexually transmitted in Texas, CDC confirms\nAd Feedback\nAd Feedback\n“Every year we come across new viruses,” said Julius Lutwama, lead researcher at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), which owns the forest. “In the last five years or so, almost each year we come across a new virus in this country.”\nUganda sits in the middle of seven distinct biogeographic zones. To the east: the savannahs of Kenya and Tanzania. To the west: the Congo basin rainforest. And Lutwama credits that biodiversity for attracting the first scientists here in the 1930s.\nWhat began as a Rockefeller Foundation-funded yellow fever outpost in 1936 soon became a leading laboratory in the study of tropical diseases and later evolved into UVRI in 1977. At the center of all that research is the Zika Forest.\nResearchers, realizing in the mid-1940s that different mosquitoes are active at different elevations, constructed a massive steel structure in the middle of the forest to conduct their yellow fever experiments. The lead in the project was a Scottish medical entomologist named Alexander Haddow.\nZika virus: What you need to know\n“All of my bedtime stories revolved around my grandfather or my father’s experiences growing up in East Africa. As a small child I learned about the Zika Forest, Zika virus and the tower that my grandfather built with funding from the WHO,” said Andrew Haddow, Alexander’s grandson, who is now a researcher working for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.\nHe says he tried other careers, but the choice should have been clear from the beginning.\n“I read all of his papers and the papers that came out of the lab,” Andrew Haddow said. “We owe our basic understanding of many arboviruses and their associated mosquito and reservoir species to them.”\nZika: How worried should you be?\nIt was in April of 1947, while studying yellow fever, that Alexander Haddow and colleague George Dick first identified Zika virus after a fever developed in a rhesus monkey placed on a wooden platform on his recently constructed tower. Blood samples revealed an unknown virus that, as protocol dictated, was named\nZika\nafter the forest in which it was first identified.\nThey still use Haddow’s tower today. Just before a recent sunset, a team from UVRI pulled up to the forest edge and unloaded two large Styrofoam coolers from the back of a pickup truck. Dry ice fog poured from the coolers’ edges as they assembled the mosquito traps and headed into the forest toward Haddow’s Tower.\nCDC director: What we’re doing about the Zika virus\nIts sides are now rusted and a few of the wooden platforms where they now hang mosquito traps are in varying states of disrepair. Scientists say surrounding construction threatens to make this small preserve even smaller and the research they used to carry out weekly has tapered off. Just like the virus that bears its name, they say, little attention has been paid to Zika Forest.\nWhen first identified, the virus was only proven to infect monkeys. Even in the subsequent decades, when a dozen or so isolated human cases began to emerge, the symptoms were mild and Zika was never seen as a threat in Uganda.\n“It was never viewed with importance,” said Lutwama. “No one is interested in making a vaccine for a virus that only causes mild symptoms.”\nMarilyn Parsons of the Center for Infectious Disease Research says it’s also hard to distinguish Zika’s symptoms from other similar arboviruses.\nHalting the spread of Zika in the United States\n“It was hard to quantify how much Zika infection there was and its impact, since its symptoms are quite similar to other viruses varied by the Aedes mosquitoes: dengue and chikungunya,” said Parsons.\nIt’s unclear just how long Zika has been around because some studies have found immunity in populations in Africa and Asia, perhaps due to the similarity to other viruses.\nAll of that changed in 2007, when the first large outbreak of Zika was reported on Yap Island in Micronesia, Haddow said. Chikungunya and West Nile followed similar courses. “West Nile circulated for at least 62 years before it emerged in New York City in 1999. The common theme of all of these viruses is that they were not widely studied and they all emerged after a long period of time to cause severe illness.”\nMore troubling, many scientists believe the 2007 strain of Zika has mutated from the original virus found in Uganda, with increased virulence. Subsequent years saw the virus spread quickly through the Pacific islands before landing in South America and Brazil in 2015, where there’s a suspected correlation to an increase in the birth defect microcephaly and other serious conditions.\nLouis Mukwaya’s office sits in a prime location on the UVRI campus in Entebbe. Just right of the main doors, it’s a large space that somehow manages to have every surface filled with stacks of papers. He started at the institute in 1965, just a few years after Alexander Haddow would step down as its head. A picture of Haddow still hangs in his office. Next to it, a picture of Mukwaya with the younger Haddow from 2013 when he visited the research center his grandfather helped create.\n“He was a very hardworking man,” Mukwaya said of the elder Haddow, before turning his attention to the virus Haddow first identified all those years ago. “You know I keep reading on the Internet about Zika in Brazil and they keep using the word, ‘emerging,’ ‘emerging’ infection. We’ve known about it for a long time, but then even we don’t know what will happen with the virus.”\nMukwaya said the institute and others like it simply don’t have the resources to properly study emerging viruses.\n“We used to do routine collections once a week,” said the renowned entomologist. “These days we don’t get out nearly as much. Funding is poor, this is the problem.”\nVaccine and drug development can take years, so basic research that lays the foundation is crucial, Parsons said. “This type of research could identify drug targets, vaccine antigen targets, and develop models for testing them,” she added.\nA climb to the top of the tower that Andrew Haddow’s grandfather helped build more than a half-century ago reveals that the once remote research outpost now is entirely surrounded by Uganda’s urban centers. Any new viruses discovered here will no longer be considered remote.\n“The current Zika virus outbreak in South and Central America is another wake-up call that increased globalization and climate change will continue to lead to the emergence of viral pathogens,” said Haddow. “We need to be preparing for the next Zika virus now.”\nFollow CNN Health on\nFacebook\nand\nTwitter.","attrs_markdown":"Thank You\\!\n\nYour effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much appreciated.\n\nClose\n\nAd Feedback\n\n[Health](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health)\n\n[Life, But Better](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/interactive\/life-but-better\/)\n\n[Fitness](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/fitness)\n\n[Food](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/food)\n\n[Sleep](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/sleep)\n\n[Mindfulness](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/mindfulness)\n\n[Relationships](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/relationships)\n\n[More]()\n\n[Life, But Better](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/interactive\/life-but-better\/)   [Fitness](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/fitness)   [Food](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/food)   [Sleep](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/sleep)   [Mindfulness](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/mindfulness)   [Relationships](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/relationships)\n\n[Watch](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/subscription\/all-access)   [Listen](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/audio)\n\nSubscribe\n\nSign in\n\nMy Account\n\n- [Settings](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/account\/settings)\n- [Newsletters](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/newsletters)\n- [Topics you follow](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/follow?iid=fw_var-nav)\n- [Sign out](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/02\/health\/zika-forest-viral-birthplace)\n\nYour CNN account Sign in to your CNN account\n***\nSign in\n\nMy Account\n\n- [Settings](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/account\/settings)\n- [Newsletters](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/newsletters)\n- [Topics you follow](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/follow?iid=fw_var-nav)\n- [Sign out](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/02\/health\/zika-forest-viral-birthplace)\n\nYour CNN account Sign in to your CNN account\n***\n[Listen](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/audio)   [Watch](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/subscription\/all-access)\n***\nEdition\n\n[US](https:\/\/us.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n\n[International](https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n\n[Arabic](https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n\n[Español](https:\/\/cnnespanol.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n\nEdition\n\n- [US](https:\/\/us.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n- [International](https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n- [Arabic](https:\/\/arabic.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n- [Español](https:\/\/cnnespanol.cnn.com\/?hpt=header_edition-picker)\n***\n[Life, But Better](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/interactive\/life-but-better\/)\n\n[Fitness](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/fitness)\n\n[Food](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/food)\n\n[Sleep](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/sleep)\n\n[Mindfulness](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/mindfulness)\n\n[Relationships](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/health\/life-but-better\/relationships)\n***\nFollow CNN\n\nDownload the CNN App\n***\n\n- [US](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/us)\n  - 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[Subscribe](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/subscription?source=sub_web_footersubnav-link)\n  - [Photos](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/world\/photos)\n  - [Investigations](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/us\/cnn-investigates)\n  - [CNN Profiles](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/profiles)\n  - [CNN Leadership](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/profiles\/cnn-leadership)\n  - [CNN Newsletters](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/newsletters)\n  - [Work for CNN](https:\/\/careers.wbd.com\/cnnjobs)\n***\nDownload the CNN App\n\n# Uganda’s Zika Forest, birthplace of the Zika virus\n[![David McKenzie](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/profiles\/david-mckenzie)\n\nBy Brent Swails and [David McKenzie](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/profiles\/david-mckenzie), CNN\n\n6 min read\n\nUpdated 6:24 AM EST, Wed February 3, 2016\n\nLink Copied\\!\n\n**Unable to load video**\n\nPlease try again later.\n\nError occurred while fetching labs\n\nSubtitles\n\n- Off\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nThe origin of the Zika virus\n\n02:22   • Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\nZika  16 videos\n\n![View of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacterium --which reduces mosquito transmitted diseases such as dengue and chikungunya by shortening adult lifespan, affect mosquito reproduction and interfere with pathogen replication-- at the Oswaldo Cruz foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on October 2, 2014. The mosquitoes, when released, are expected to quickly infiltrate the insect population and stop the spread of the disease. Small-scale trials have already been conducted in communities in northern Australia. ](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nWhat is the Zika virus?\n\n01:32\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![miami-dade county mayor carlos gimenez](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nMosquito samples test positive for Zika in Miami Beach\n\n01:01\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [WSVN](http:\/\/wsvn.com\/)\n\n![MCALLEN, TX - APRIL 14: A city environmental health worker displays literature to be distrubuted to the public on April 14, 2016 in McAllen, Texas. Health departments, especially in areas along the Texas-Mexico border, are preparing for the expected arrival of the Zika Virus, carried by the aegypti mosquito, which is endemic to the region. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), announced this week that Zika is the definitive cause of birth defects seen in Brazil and other countries affected by the outbreak. (Photo by John Moore\/Getty Images)](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nFDA: Screen all blood donations for Zika\n\n01:38\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![zika mutant male mosquitos mclaughlin pkg \\_00020830.jpg](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nThe origin of the Zika virus\n\n02:22\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![Zika mosquito \\_00000128.jpg](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nZika's blood-sucking predator\n\n01:49\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![A mother and her baby, who has microcephaly, at the Altino Ventura Foundation Clinic in Recife, Brazil.](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\n'We grossly underestimated' Zika, expert says\n\n01:10\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![Zika volunteer vaccine trial patient orig llr\\_00010922.jpg](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nMeet one of the first Zika vaccine volunteers\n\n01:19\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![CDC Zika still a threat\\_00000000.jpg](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nZika still a threat, CDC warns\n\n01:05\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![miami zika free rick scott presser sot\\_00003606.jpg](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nRick Scott declares Miami Zika-free\n\n01:09\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [WSVN](http:\/\/www.wsvn.com\/)\n\n![Cuba zika summit Oppmann pkg\\_00021009.jpg](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nCuba's Zika battle\n\n02:24\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![Residents are seen past a public service announcement banner against the spread of Aedes mosquitoes, a carrier for the Zika virus, at a residential block at Aljunied Crescent neighbourhood in Singapore on August 29, 2016. Singapore on August 28 confirmed 41 locally transmitted cases of the Zika virus, which can cause deformities in unborn babies, and said more infections are likely. \/ AFP \/ ROSLAN RAHMAN (Photo credit should read ROSLAN RAHMAN\/AFP\/Getty Images)](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nSingapore's Zika cases send warning signal to Asia\n\n02:11\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![gfx map zika mosquitoes nasa](https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/160427152613-gfx-map-zika-mosquitoes-nasa.jpg?q=x_0,y_0,h_900,w_1599,c_fill\/w_250)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nEverything you need to know about Zika\n\n01:42\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![singapore zika pregnant tank pkg\\_00001921.jpg](https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/160907140704-singapore-zika-pregnant-tank-pkg-00001921.jpg?q=x_2,y_0,h_1078,w_1915,c_crop\/w_250)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nDealing with Zika when you're pregnant\n\n02:12\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![Dead honey bees lie at the entrance of a beehive on May 19, 2008 in Mahlberg near Freiburg, Germany. According to the German bee keepers association in the last few days honey bees died massively due to the use of pesticides. Seed corn that was sowed in the last weeks is mostly treated with clothianidin, a chemical used to protect roots from pest.](https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/160902083151-02-dead-honeybee.jpg?q=x_82,y_191,h_966,w_1718,c_crop\/w_250)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nZika spraying kills millions of honeybees\n\n01:37\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [WCBD](http:\/\/counton2.com\/)\n\n![zika baby orig\\_00002003.jpg](https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/160606090820-zika-baby-orig-00002003.jpg?q=x_0,y_0,h_1080,w_1919,c_fill\/w_250)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nHope for abandoned baby\n\n01:07\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![u.s. miami zika orig\\_00000413.jpg](https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/160803165822-u-s-miami-zika-orig-00000413.jpg?q=x_0,y_0,h_1080,w_1919,c_fill\/w_250)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nInside ground zero for Zika in the U.S.\n\n00:52\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![View of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacterium --which reduces mosquito transmitted diseases such as dengue and chikungunya by shortening adult lifespan, affect mosquito reproduction and interfere with pathogen replication-- at the Oswaldo Cruz foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on October 2, 2014. The mosquitoes, when released, are expected to quickly infiltrate the insect population and stop the spread of the disease. Small-scale trials have already been conducted in communities in northern Australia. ](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nWhat is the Zika virus?\n\n01:32\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![miami-dade county mayor carlos gimenez](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nMosquito samples test positive for Zika in Miami Beach\n\n01:01\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [WSVN](http:\/\/wsvn.com\/)\n\n![MCALLEN, TX - APRIL 14: A city environmental health worker displays literature to be distrubuted to the public on April 14, 2016 in McAllen, Texas. Health departments, especially in areas along the Texas-Mexico border, are preparing for the expected arrival of the Zika Virus, carried by the aegypti mosquito, which is endemic to the region. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), announced this week that Zika is the definitive cause of birth defects seen in Brazil and other countries affected by the outbreak. (Photo by John Moore\/Getty Images)](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nFDA: Screen all blood donations for Zika\n\n01:38\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![zika mutant male mosquitos mclaughlin pkg \\_00020830.jpg](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nThe origin of the Zika virus\n\n02:22\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![Zika mosquito \\_00000128.jpg](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\nZika's blood-sucking predator\n\n01:49\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\n![A mother and her baby, who has microcephaly, at the Altino Ventura Foundation Clinic in Recife, Brazil.](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nVideo Ad Feedback\n\n'We grossly underestimated' Zika, expert says\n\n01:10\n\nNow playing\n\n• Source: [CNN](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/)\n\nSee more videos\n\n### Story highlights\nResearchers first identified the Zika virus in 1947 after a fever developed in a rhesus monkey\n\nMany scientists believe the 2007 strain of Zika has mutated from the original virus, with increased virulence\n\nZika Forest, Uganda\n\nCNN\n\n—\n\nThe turnoff into the Zika Forest is easy to miss, just a small break in the tree line along the main road between Entebbe Airport and Uganda’s capital, Kampala. A worn-out sign announcing its start only comes into view after a journey down a small dirt path.\n\nThe [explosive spread of the Zika virus](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/01\/health\/zika-virus-public-health-emergency\/index.html) may have caught the world by surprise, but its namesake, the forest preserve near the edge of Lake Victoria, isn’t a place to just stumble on to. The researchers who have been coming here for more than a half-century come with a purpose: to study viruses and the mosquitoes that carry them.\n\n[Zika sexually transmitted in Texas, CDC confirms](http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/02\/health\/zika-virus-sexual-contact-texas\/index.html)\n\nAd Feedback\n\nAd Feedback\n\n![A well-worn sign is the only indication of the start of the Zika forest, Uganda's only preserve devoted entirely to science research.](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nA well-worn sign is the only indication of the start of the Zika forest, Uganda's only preserve devoted entirely to science research.\n\nBrent Swails\/CNN\n\n“Every year we come across new viruses,” said Julius Lutwama, lead researcher at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), which owns the forest. “In the last five years or so, almost each year we come across a new virus in this country.”\n\nUganda sits in the middle of seven distinct biogeographic zones. To the east: the savannahs of Kenya and Tanzania. To the west: the Congo basin rainforest. And Lutwama credits that biodiversity for attracting the first scientists here in the 1930s.\n\n## The discovery\nWhat began as a Rockefeller Foundation-funded yellow fever outpost in 1936 soon became a leading laboratory in the study of tropical diseases and later evolved into UVRI in 1977. At the center of all that research is the Zika Forest.\n\n![Entomologist Louis Mukwaya holds a picture of Alexander Haddow, the scientist who first identified Zika virus in 1947. \"He was a very hardworking man,\" Mukwaya said of Haddow. Mukwaya has been working at the institute since 1965.](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nEntomologist Louis Mukwaya holds a picture of Alexander Haddow, the scientist who first identified Zika virus in 1947. \"He was a very hardworking man,\" Mukwaya said of Haddow. Mukwaya has been working at the institute since 1965.\n\nBrent Swails\/CNN\n\nResearchers, realizing in the mid-1940s that different mosquitoes are active at different elevations, constructed a massive steel structure in the middle of the forest to conduct their yellow fever experiments. The lead in the project was a Scottish medical entomologist named Alexander Haddow.\n\n[Zika virus: What you need to know](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/01\/26\/health\/zika-what-you-need-to-know\/index.html)\n\n“All of my bedtime stories revolved around my grandfather or my father’s experiences growing up in East Africa. As a small child I learned about the Zika Forest, Zika virus and the tower that my grandfather built with funding from the WHO,” said Andrew Haddow, Alexander’s grandson, who is now a researcher working for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.\n\nHe says he tried other careers, but the choice should have been clear from the beginning.\n\n“I read all of his papers and the papers that came out of the lab,” Andrew Haddow said. “We owe our basic understanding of many arboviruses and their associated mosquito and reservoir species to them.”\n\n[Zika: How worried should you be?](http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/01\/health\/cdc-frieden-zika-explained\/index.html)\n\nIt was in April of 1947, while studying yellow fever, that Alexander Haddow and colleague George Dick first identified Zika virus after a fever developed in a rhesus monkey placed on a wooden platform on his recently constructed tower. Blood samples revealed an unknown virus that, as protocol dictated, was named [Zika](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/01\/26\/health\/zika-what-you-need-to-know\/index.html) after the forest in which it was first identified.\n\n[![aedes aegypti](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) James Gathany\/CDC Related article Zika, Ebola, mad cow: What's in a disease name?](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2015\/05\/11\/health\/who-disease-names\/index.html)\n\n## The spread\n![Researchers hang mosquito traps before sunset. Uganda sits in the middle of seven distinct bio-geographic zones, its biodiversity is credited for attracting the first scientists to Zika forest in the 1930s.](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nResearchers hang mosquito traps before sunset. Uganda sits in the middle of seven distinct bio-geographic zones, its biodiversity is credited for attracting the first scientists to Zika forest in the 1930s.\n\nBrent Swails\/CNN\n\nThey still use Haddow’s tower today. Just before a recent sunset, a team from UVRI pulled up to the forest edge and unloaded two large Styrofoam coolers from the back of a pickup truck. Dry ice fog poured from the coolers’ edges as they assembled the mosquito traps and headed into the forest toward Haddow’s Tower.\n\n[CDC director: What we’re doing about the Zika virus](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/01\/health\/cdc-frieden-zika-explained\/index.html)\n\nIts sides are now rusted and a few of the wooden platforms where they now hang mosquito traps are in varying states of disrepair. Scientists say surrounding construction threatens to make this small preserve even smaller and the research they used to carry out weekly has tapered off. Just like the virus that bears its name, they say, little attention has been paid to Zika Forest.\n\n![A researcher takes a break on Zika forest's landmark tower, built by Alexander Haddow who first identified Zika virus in 1947](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nA researcher takes a break on Zika forest's landmark tower, built by Alexander Haddow who first identified Zika virus in 1947\n\nBrent Swails\/CNN\n\nWhen first identified, the virus was only proven to infect monkeys. Even in the subsequent decades, when a dozen or so isolated human cases began to emerge, the symptoms were mild and Zika was never seen as a threat in Uganda.\n\n“It was never viewed with importance,” said Lutwama. “No one is interested in making a vaccine for a virus that only causes mild symptoms.”\n\nMarilyn Parsons of the Center for Infectious Disease Research says it’s also hard to distinguish Zika’s symptoms from other similar arboviruses.\n\n[Halting the spread of Zika in the United States](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/01\/26\/health\/halting-spread-of-zika-united-states\/index.html)\n\n“It was hard to quantify how much Zika infection there was and its impact, since its symptoms are quite similar to other viruses varied by the Aedes mosquitoes: dengue and chikungunya,” said Parsons.\n\nIt’s unclear just how long Zika has been around because some studies have found immunity in populations in Africa and Asia, perhaps due to the similarity to other viruses.\n\n![Research is heavily focused on diagnostics, something researchers at the Uganda Virus Research Institute hope to change.](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nResearch is heavily focused on diagnostics, something researchers at the Uganda Virus Research Institute hope to change.\n\nBrent Swails\/CNN\n\nAll of that changed in 2007, when the first large outbreak of Zika was reported on Yap Island in Micronesia, Haddow said. Chikungunya and West Nile followed similar courses. “West Nile circulated for at least 62 years before it emerged in New York City in 1999. The common theme of all of these viruses is that they were not widely studied and they all emerged after a long period of time to cause severe illness.”\n\nMore troubling, many scientists believe the 2007 strain of Zika has mutated from the original virus found in Uganda, with increased virulence. Subsequent years saw the virus spread quickly through the Pacific islands before landing in South America and Brazil in 2015, where there’s a suspected correlation to an increase in the birth defect microcephaly and other serious conditions.\n\n## ‘Preparing for the next Zika now’\nLouis Mukwaya’s office sits in a prime location on the UVRI campus in Entebbe. Just right of the main doors, it’s a large space that somehow manages to have every surface filled with stacks of papers. He started at the institute in 1965, just a few years after Alexander Haddow would step down as its head. A picture of Haddow still hangs in his office. Next to it, a picture of Mukwaya with the younger Haddow from 2013 when he visited the research center his grandfather helped create.\n\n![A climb to the top of the tower that Andrew Haddow's grandfather helped build more than a half-century ago reveals a view shows a once remote research outpost now entirely surrounded by Uganda's urban centers. Any new viruses discovered here will no longer be considered remote.](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg)\n\nA climb to the top of the tower that Andrew Haddow's grandfather helped build more than a half-century ago reveals a view shows a once remote research outpost now entirely surrounded by Uganda's urban centers. Any new viruses discovered here will no longer be considered remote.\n\nBrent Swails\/CNN\n\n“He was a very hardworking man,” Mukwaya said of the elder Haddow, before turning his attention to the virus Haddow first identified all those years ago. “You know I keep reading on the Internet about Zika in Brazil and they keep using the word, ‘emerging,’ ‘emerging’ infection. We’ve known about it for a long time, but then even we don’t know what will happen with the virus.”\n\nMukwaya said the institute and others like it simply don’t have the resources to properly study emerging viruses.\n\n“We used to do routine collections once a week,” said the renowned entomologist. “These days we don’t get out nearly as much. Funding is poor, this is the problem.”\n\nVaccine and drug development can take years, so basic research that lays the foundation is crucial, Parsons said. “This type of research could identify drug targets, vaccine antigen targets, and develop models for testing them,” she added.\n\nA climb to the top of the tower that Andrew Haddow’s grandfather helped build more than a half-century ago reveals that the once remote research outpost now is entirely surrounded by Uganda’s urban centers. Any new viruses discovered here will no longer be considered remote.\n\n“The current Zika virus outbreak in South and Central America is another wake-up call that increased globalization and climate change will continue to lead to the emergence of viral pathogens,” said Haddow. “We need to be preparing for the next Zika virus now.”\n\n*Follow CNN Health on* [*Facebook*](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CNNHealth) *and* [*Twitter.*](https:\/\/twitter.com\/cnnhealth)\n\nAd Feedback\n\nAd Feedback\n\nAd Feedback\n\nSubscribe\n\nSign in\n\nMy Account\n\n- [Settings](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/account\/settings)\n- [Newsletters](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/newsletters)\n- [Topics you follow](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/follow?iid=fw_var-nav)\n- [Sign out](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/02\/health\/zika-forest-viral-birthplace)\n\nYour CNN account Sign in to your CNN account\n***\n[Listen](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/audio)   [Watch](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/watch)\n***\n- [US](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/us)\n  - [Crime & Justice](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/us\/crime-and-justice)\n  - 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A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved.   \n CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.\n\n## Download the CNN app\nScan the QR code to download the CNN app on Google Play.\n\n![Scan the QR code to download the CNN app from Google Play.](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/google-play-cnn-app-qr-code.png)\n\n## Download the CNN app\nScan the QR code to download the CNN app from the Apple Store.\n\n![Scan the QR code to download the CNN app from the Apple Store.](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/app-store-cnn-app-qr-code.png)\n\n![CNN Logo](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn.svg)\n\n## Legal Terms and Privacy\nBy clicking Agree, you have read and agree to the Terms of Use and agree to the collection and use of your information by cookies and similar technologies, as set forth in our Privacy Policy.\n\nBy clicking \"Agree\", you have read and agree to the [Terms of Use](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/terms) and agree to the collection and use of your information by cookies and similar technologies, as set forth in our [Privacy Policy](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/privacy).\n\n[Agree](https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/02\/health\/zika-forest-viral-birthplace)","attrs_readable_markdown":"### Story highlights\nResearchers first identified the Zika virus in 1947 after a fever developed in a rhesus monkey\n\nMany scientists believe the 2007 strain of Zika has mutated from the original virus, with increased virulence\n\nZika Forest, Uganda CNN —\n\nThe turnoff into the Zika Forest is easy to miss, just a small break in the tree line along the main road between Entebbe Airport and Uganda’s capital, Kampala. A worn-out sign announcing its start only comes into view after a journey down a small dirt path.\n\nThe [explosive spread of the Zika virus](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/01\/health\/zika-virus-public-health-emergency\/index.html) may have caught the world by surprise, but its namesake, the forest preserve near the edge of Lake Victoria, isn’t a place to just stumble on to. The researchers who have been coming here for more than a half-century come with a purpose: to study viruses and the mosquitoes that carry them.\n\n[Zika sexually transmitted in Texas, CDC confirms](http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/02\/health\/zika-virus-sexual-contact-texas\/index.html)\n\nAd Feedback\n\nAd Feedback\n\n“Every year we come across new viruses,” said Julius Lutwama, lead researcher at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), which owns the forest. “In the last five years or so, almost each year we come across a new virus in this country.”\n\nUganda sits in the middle of seven distinct biogeographic zones. To the east: the savannahs of Kenya and Tanzania. To the west: the Congo basin rainforest. And Lutwama credits that biodiversity for attracting the first scientists here in the 1930s.\n\nWhat began as a Rockefeller Foundation-funded yellow fever outpost in 1936 soon became a leading laboratory in the study of tropical diseases and later evolved into UVRI in 1977. At the center of all that research is the Zika Forest.\n\nResearchers, realizing in the mid-1940s that different mosquitoes are active at different elevations, constructed a massive steel structure in the middle of the forest to conduct their yellow fever experiments. The lead in the project was a Scottish medical entomologist named Alexander Haddow.\n\n[Zika virus: What you need to know](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/01\/26\/health\/zika-what-you-need-to-know\/index.html)\n\n“All of my bedtime stories revolved around my grandfather or my father’s experiences growing up in East Africa. As a small child I learned about the Zika Forest, Zika virus and the tower that my grandfather built with funding from the WHO,” said Andrew Haddow, Alexander’s grandson, who is now a researcher working for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.\n\nHe says he tried other careers, but the choice should have been clear from the beginning.\n\n“I read all of his papers and the papers that came out of the lab,” Andrew Haddow said. “We owe our basic understanding of many arboviruses and their associated mosquito and reservoir species to them.”\n\n[Zika: How worried should you be?](http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/01\/health\/cdc-frieden-zika-explained\/index.html)\n\nIt was in April of 1947, while studying yellow fever, that Alexander Haddow and colleague George Dick first identified Zika virus after a fever developed in a rhesus monkey placed on a wooden platform on his recently constructed tower. Blood samples revealed an unknown virus that, as protocol dictated, was named [Zika](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/01\/26\/health\/zika-what-you-need-to-know\/index.html) after the forest in which it was first identified.\n\nThey still use Haddow’s tower today. Just before a recent sunset, a team from UVRI pulled up to the forest edge and unloaded two large Styrofoam coolers from the back of a pickup truck. Dry ice fog poured from the coolers’ edges as they assembled the mosquito traps and headed into the forest toward Haddow’s Tower.\n\n[CDC director: What we’re doing about the Zika virus](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/02\/01\/health\/cdc-frieden-zika-explained\/index.html)\n\nIts sides are now rusted and a few of the wooden platforms where they now hang mosquito traps are in varying states of disrepair. Scientists say surrounding construction threatens to make this small preserve even smaller and the research they used to carry out weekly has tapered off. Just like the virus that bears its name, they say, little attention has been paid to Zika Forest.\n\nWhen first identified, the virus was only proven to infect monkeys. Even in the subsequent decades, when a dozen or so isolated human cases began to emerge, the symptoms were mild and Zika was never seen as a threat in Uganda.\n\n“It was never viewed with importance,” said Lutwama. “No one is interested in making a vaccine for a virus that only causes mild symptoms.”\n\nMarilyn Parsons of the Center for Infectious Disease Research says it’s also hard to distinguish Zika’s symptoms from other similar arboviruses.\n\n[Halting the spread of Zika in the United States](http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/01\/26\/health\/halting-spread-of-zika-united-states\/index.html)\n\n“It was hard to quantify how much Zika infection there was and its impact, since its symptoms are quite similar to other viruses varied by the Aedes mosquitoes: dengue and chikungunya,” said Parsons.\n\nIt’s unclear just how long Zika has been around because some studies have found immunity in populations in Africa and Asia, perhaps due to the similarity to other viruses.\n\nAll of that changed in 2007, when the first large outbreak of Zika was reported on Yap Island in Micronesia, Haddow said. Chikungunya and West Nile followed similar courses. “West Nile circulated for at least 62 years before it emerged in New York City in 1999. The common theme of all of these viruses is that they were not widely studied and they all emerged after a long period of time to cause severe illness.”\n\nMore troubling, many scientists believe the 2007 strain of Zika has mutated from the original virus found in Uganda, with increased virulence. Subsequent years saw the virus spread quickly through the Pacific islands before landing in South America and Brazil in 2015, where there’s a suspected correlation to an increase in the birth defect microcephaly and other serious conditions.\n\nLouis Mukwaya’s office sits in a prime location on the UVRI campus in Entebbe. Just right of the main doors, it’s a large space that somehow manages to have every surface filled with stacks of papers. He started at the institute in 1965, just a few years after Alexander Haddow would step down as its head. A picture of Haddow still hangs in his office. Next to it, a picture of Mukwaya with the younger Haddow from 2013 when he visited the research center his grandfather helped create.\n\n“He was a very hardworking man,” Mukwaya said of the elder Haddow, before turning his attention to the virus Haddow first identified all those years ago. “You know I keep reading on the Internet about Zika in Brazil and they keep using the word, ‘emerging,’ ‘emerging’ infection. We’ve known about it for a long time, but then even we don’t know what will happen with the virus.”\n\nMukwaya said the institute and others like it simply don’t have the resources to properly study emerging viruses.\n\n“We used to do routine collections once a week,” said the renowned entomologist. “These days we don’t get out nearly as much. Funding is poor, this is the problem.”\n\nVaccine and drug development can take years, so basic research that lays the foundation is crucial, Parsons said. “This type of research could identify drug targets, vaccine antigen targets, and develop models for testing them,” she added.\n\nA climb to the top of the tower that Andrew Haddow’s grandfather helped build more than a half-century ago reveals that the once remote research outpost now is entirely surrounded by Uganda’s urban centers. Any new viruses discovered here will no longer be considered remote.\n\n“The current Zika virus outbreak in South and Central America is another wake-up call that increased globalization and climate change will continue to lead to the emergence of viral pathogens,” said Haddow. “We need to be preparing for the next Zika virus now.”\n\n*Follow CNN Health on* [*Facebook*](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CNNHealth) *and* [*Twitter.*](https:\/\/twitter.com\/cnnhealth)","meta_canonical":null}

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URL	https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/02/health/zika-forest-viral-birthplace
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Meta Title	Zika virus birthplace: Uganda’s Zika Forest \| CNN
Meta Description	Explosive spread of the Zika virus may have caught world by surprise, but its namesake, Uganda’s Zika forest has been a place for study for over half a century.
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Boilerpipe Text	Story highlights Researchers first identified the Zika virus in 1947 after a fever developed in a rhesus monkey Many scientists believe the 2007 strain of Zika has mutated from the original virus, with increased virulence Zika Forest, Uganda CNN — The turnoff into the Zika Forest is easy to miss, just a small break in the tree line along the main road between Entebbe Airport and Uganda’s capital, Kampala. A worn-out sign announcing its start only comes into view after a journey down a small dirt path. The explosive spread of the Zika virus may have caught the world by surprise, but its namesake, the forest preserve near the edge of Lake Victoria, isn’t a place to just stumble on to. The researchers who have been coming here for more than a half-century come with a purpose: to study viruses and the mosquitoes that carry them. Zika sexually transmitted in Texas, CDC confirms Ad Feedback Ad Feedback “Every year we come across new viruses,” said Julius Lutwama, lead researcher at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), which owns the forest. “In the last five years or so, almost each year we come across a new virus in this country.” Uganda sits in the middle of seven distinct biogeographic zones. To the east: the savannahs of Kenya and Tanzania. To the west: the Congo basin rainforest. And Lutwama credits that biodiversity for attracting the first scientists here in the 1930s. What began as a Rockefeller Foundation-funded yellow fever outpost in 1936 soon became a leading laboratory in the study of tropical diseases and later evolved into UVRI in 1977. At the center of all that research is the Zika Forest. Researchers, realizing in the mid-1940s that different mosquitoes are active at different elevations, constructed a massive steel structure in the middle of the forest to conduct their yellow fever experiments. The lead in the project was a Scottish medical entomologist named Alexander Haddow. Zika virus: What you need to know “All of my bedtime stories revolved around my grandfather or my father’s experiences growing up in East Africa. As a small child I learned about the Zika Forest, Zika virus and the tower that my grandfather built with funding from the WHO,” said Andrew Haddow, Alexander’s grandson, who is now a researcher working for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. He says he tried other careers, but the choice should have been clear from the beginning. “I read all of his papers and the papers that came out of the lab,” Andrew Haddow said. “We owe our basic understanding of many arboviruses and their associated mosquito and reservoir species to them.” Zika: How worried should you be? It was in April of 1947, while studying yellow fever, that Alexander Haddow and colleague George Dick first identified Zika virus after a fever developed in a rhesus monkey placed on a wooden platform on his recently constructed tower. Blood samples revealed an unknown virus that, as protocol dictated, was named Zika after the forest in which it was first identified. They still use Haddow’s tower today. Just before a recent sunset, a team from UVRI pulled up to the forest edge and unloaded two large Styrofoam coolers from the back of a pickup truck. Dry ice fog poured from the coolers’ edges as they assembled the mosquito traps and headed into the forest toward Haddow’s Tower. CDC director: What we’re doing about the Zika virus Its sides are now rusted and a few of the wooden platforms where they now hang mosquito traps are in varying states of disrepair. Scientists say surrounding construction threatens to make this small preserve even smaller and the research they used to carry out weekly has tapered off. Just like the virus that bears its name, they say, little attention has been paid to Zika Forest. When first identified, the virus was only proven to infect monkeys. Even in the subsequent decades, when a dozen or so isolated human cases began to emerge, the symptoms were mild and Zika was never seen as a threat in Uganda. “It was never viewed with importance,” said Lutwama. “No one is interested in making a vaccine for a virus that only causes mild symptoms.” Marilyn Parsons of the Center for Infectious Disease Research says it’s also hard to distinguish Zika’s symptoms from other similar arboviruses. Halting the spread of Zika in the United States “It was hard to quantify how much Zika infection there was and its impact, since its symptoms are quite similar to other viruses varied by the Aedes mosquitoes: dengue and chikungunya,” said Parsons. It’s unclear just how long Zika has been around because some studies have found immunity in populations in Africa and Asia, perhaps due to the similarity to other viruses. All of that changed in 2007, when the first large outbreak of Zika was reported on Yap Island in Micronesia, Haddow said. Chikungunya and West Nile followed similar courses. “West Nile circulated for at least 62 years before it emerged in New York City in 1999. The common theme of all of these viruses is that they were not widely studied and they all emerged after a long period of time to cause severe illness.” More troubling, many scientists believe the 2007 strain of Zika has mutated from the original virus found in Uganda, with increased virulence. Subsequent years saw the virus spread quickly through the Pacific islands before landing in South America and Brazil in 2015, where there’s a suspected correlation to an increase in the birth defect microcephaly and other serious conditions. Louis Mukwaya’s office sits in a prime location on the UVRI campus in Entebbe. Just right of the main doors, it’s a large space that somehow manages to have every surface filled with stacks of papers. He started at the institute in 1965, just a few years after Alexander Haddow would step down as its head. A picture of Haddow still hangs in his office. Next to it, a picture of Mukwaya with the younger Haddow from 2013 when he visited the research center his grandfather helped create. “He was a very hardworking man,” Mukwaya said of the elder Haddow, before turning his attention to the virus Haddow first identified all those years ago. “You know I keep reading on the Internet about Zika in Brazil and they keep using the word, ‘emerging,’ ‘emerging’ infection. We’ve known about it for a long time, but then even we don’t know what will happen with the virus.” Mukwaya said the institute and others like it simply don’t have the resources to properly study emerging viruses. “We used to do routine collections once a week,” said the renowned entomologist. “These days we don’t get out nearly as much. Funding is poor, this is the problem.” Vaccine and drug development can take years, so basic research that lays the foundation is crucial, Parsons said. “This type of research could identify drug targets, vaccine antigen targets, and develop models for testing them,” she added. A climb to the top of the tower that Andrew Haddow’s grandfather helped build more than a half-century ago reveals that the once remote research outpost now is entirely surrounded by Uganda’s urban centers. Any new viruses discovered here will no longer be considered remote. “The current Zika virus outbreak in South and Central America is another wake-up call that increased globalization and climate change will continue to lead to the emergence of viral pathogens,” said Haddow. “We need to be preparing for the next Zika virus now.” Follow CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.
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Unable to load video** Please try again later. Error occurred while fetching labs Subtitles - Off Video Ad Feedback The origin of the Zika virus 02:22 • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) Zika 16 videos ![View of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacterium --which reduces mosquito transmitted diseases such as dengue and chikungunya by shortening adult lifespan, affect mosquito reproduction and interfere with pathogen replication-- at the Oswaldo Cruz foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on October 2, 2014. The mosquitoes, when released, are expected to quickly infiltrate the insect population and stop the spread of the disease. Small-scale trials have already been conducted in communities in northern Australia. ](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback What is the Zika virus? 01:32 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![miami-dade county mayor carlos gimenez](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Mosquito samples test positive for Zika in Miami Beach 01:01 Now playing • Source: [WSVN](http://wsvn.com/) ![MCALLEN, TX - APRIL 14: A city environmental health worker displays literature to be distrubuted to the public on April 14, 2016 in McAllen, Texas. Health departments, especially in areas along the Texas-Mexico border, are preparing for the expected arrival of the Zika Virus, carried by the aegypti mosquito, which is endemic to the region. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), announced this week that Zika is the definitive cause of birth defects seen in Brazil and other countries affected by the outbreak. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback FDA: Screen all blood donations for Zika 01:38 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![zika mutant male mosquitos mclaughlin pkg \_00020830.jpg](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback The origin of the Zika virus 02:22 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![Zika mosquito \_00000128.jpg](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Zika's blood-sucking predator 01:49 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![A mother and her baby, who has microcephaly, at the Altino Ventura Foundation Clinic in Recife, Brazil.](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback 'We grossly underestimated' Zika, expert says 01:10 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![Zika volunteer vaccine trial patient orig llr\_00010922.jpg](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Meet one of the first Zika vaccine volunteers 01:19 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![CDC Zika still a threat\_00000000.jpg](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Zika still a threat, CDC warns 01:05 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![miami zika free rick scott presser sot\_00003606.jpg](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Rick Scott declares Miami Zika-free 01:09 Now playing • Source: [WSVN](http://www.wsvn.com/) ![Cuba zika summit Oppmann pkg\_00021009.jpg](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Cuba's Zika battle 02:24 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![Residents are seen past a public service announcement banner against the spread of Aedes mosquitoes, a carrier for the Zika virus, at a residential block at Aljunied Crescent neighbourhood in Singapore on August 29, 2016. Singapore on August 28 confirmed 41 locally transmitted cases of the Zika virus, which can cause deformities in unborn babies, and said more infections are likely. / AFP / ROSLAN RAHMAN (Photo credit should read ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/Getty Images)](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Singapore's Zika cases send warning signal to Asia 02:11 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![gfx map zika mosquitoes nasa](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/160427152613-gfx-map-zika-mosquitoes-nasa.jpg?q=x_0,y_0,h_900,w_1599,c_fill/w_250) Video Ad Feedback Everything you need to know about Zika 01:42 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![singapore zika pregnant tank pkg\_00001921.jpg](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/160907140704-singapore-zika-pregnant-tank-pkg-00001921.jpg?q=x_2,y_0,h_1078,w_1915,c_crop/w_250) Video Ad Feedback Dealing with Zika when you're pregnant 02:12 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![Dead honey bees lie at the entrance of a beehive on May 19, 2008 in Mahlberg near Freiburg, Germany. According to the German bee keepers association in the last few days honey bees died massively due to the use of pesticides. Seed corn that was sowed in the last weeks is mostly treated with clothianidin, a chemical used to protect roots from pest.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/160902083151-02-dead-honeybee.jpg?q=x_82,y_191,h_966,w_1718,c_crop/w_250) Video Ad Feedback Zika spraying kills millions of honeybees 01:37 Now playing • Source: [WCBD](http://counton2.com/) ![zika baby orig\_00002003.jpg](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/160606090820-zika-baby-orig-00002003.jpg?q=x_0,y_0,h_1080,w_1919,c_fill/w_250) Video Ad Feedback Hope for abandoned baby 01:07 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![u.s. miami zika orig\_00000413.jpg](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/160803165822-u-s-miami-zika-orig-00000413.jpg?q=x_0,y_0,h_1080,w_1919,c_fill/w_250) Video Ad Feedback Inside ground zero for Zika in the U.S. 00:52 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![View of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with the Wolbachia bacterium --which reduces mosquito transmitted diseases such as dengue and chikungunya by shortening adult lifespan, affect mosquito reproduction and interfere with pathogen replication-- at the Oswaldo Cruz foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on October 2, 2014. The mosquitoes, when released, are expected to quickly infiltrate the insect population and stop the spread of the disease. Small-scale trials have already been conducted in communities in northern Australia. ](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback What is the Zika virus? 01:32 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![miami-dade county mayor carlos gimenez](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Mosquito samples test positive for Zika in Miami Beach 01:01 Now playing • Source: [WSVN](http://wsvn.com/) ![MCALLEN, TX - APRIL 14: A city environmental health worker displays literature to be distrubuted to the public on April 14, 2016 in McAllen, Texas. Health departments, especially in areas along the Texas-Mexico border, are preparing for the expected arrival of the Zika Virus, carried by the aegypti mosquito, which is endemic to the region. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), announced this week that Zika is the definitive cause of birth defects seen in Brazil and other countries affected by the outbreak. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback FDA: Screen all blood donations for Zika 01:38 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![zika mutant male mosquitos mclaughlin pkg \_00020830.jpg](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback The origin of the Zika virus 02:22 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![Zika mosquito \_00000128.jpg](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback Zika's blood-sucking predator 01:49 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) ![A mother and her baby, who has microcephaly, at the Altino Ventura Foundation Clinic in Recife, Brazil.](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Video Ad Feedback 'We grossly underestimated' Zika, expert says 01:10 Now playing • Source: [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/) See more videos ### Story highlights Researchers first identified the Zika virus in 1947 after a fever developed in a rhesus monkey Many scientists believe the 2007 strain of Zika has mutated from the original virus, with increased virulence Zika Forest, Uganda CNN — The turnoff into the Zika Forest is easy to miss, just a small break in the tree line along the main road between Entebbe Airport and Uganda’s capital, Kampala. A worn-out sign announcing its start only comes into view after a journey down a small dirt path. The [explosive spread of the Zika virus](http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/01/health/zika-virus-public-health-emergency/index.html) may have caught the world by surprise, but its namesake, the forest preserve near the edge of Lake Victoria, isn’t a place to just stumble on to. The researchers who have been coming here for more than a half-century come with a purpose: to study viruses and the mosquitoes that carry them. [Zika sexually transmitted in Texas, CDC confirms](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/02/health/zika-virus-sexual-contact-texas/index.html) Ad Feedback Ad Feedback ![A well-worn sign is the only indication of the start of the Zika forest, Uganda's only preserve devoted entirely to science research.](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) A well-worn sign is the only indication of the start of the Zika forest, Uganda's only preserve devoted entirely to science research. Brent Swails/CNN “Every year we come across new viruses,” said Julius Lutwama, lead researcher at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), which owns the forest. “In the last five years or so, almost each year we come across a new virus in this country.” Uganda sits in the middle of seven distinct biogeographic zones. To the east: the savannahs of Kenya and Tanzania. To the west: the Congo basin rainforest. And Lutwama credits that biodiversity for attracting the first scientists here in the 1930s. ## The discovery What began as a Rockefeller Foundation-funded yellow fever outpost in 1936 soon became a leading laboratory in the study of tropical diseases and later evolved into UVRI in 1977. At the center of all that research is the Zika Forest. ![Entomologist Louis Mukwaya holds a picture of Alexander Haddow, the scientist who first identified Zika virus in 1947. "He was a very hardworking man," Mukwaya said of Haddow. Mukwaya has been working at the institute since 1965.](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Entomologist Louis Mukwaya holds a picture of Alexander Haddow, the scientist who first identified Zika virus in 1947. "He was a very hardworking man," Mukwaya said of Haddow. Mukwaya has been working at the institute since 1965. Brent Swails/CNN Researchers, realizing in the mid-1940s that different mosquitoes are active at different elevations, constructed a massive steel structure in the middle of the forest to conduct their yellow fever experiments. The lead in the project was a Scottish medical entomologist named Alexander Haddow. [Zika virus: What you need to know](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/health/zika-what-you-need-to-know/index.html) “All of my bedtime stories revolved around my grandfather or my father’s experiences growing up in East Africa. As a small child I learned about the Zika Forest, Zika virus and the tower that my grandfather built with funding from the WHO,” said Andrew Haddow, Alexander’s grandson, who is now a researcher working for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. He says he tried other careers, but the choice should have been clear from the beginning. “I read all of his papers and the papers that came out of the lab,” Andrew Haddow said. “We owe our basic understanding of many arboviruses and their associated mosquito and reservoir species to them.” [Zika: How worried should you be?](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/01/health/cdc-frieden-zika-explained/index.html) It was in April of 1947, while studying yellow fever, that Alexander Haddow and colleague George Dick first identified Zika virus after a fever developed in a rhesus monkey placed on a wooden platform on his recently constructed tower. Blood samples revealed an unknown virus that, as protocol dictated, was named [Zika](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/health/zika-what-you-need-to-know/index.html) after the forest in which it was first identified. [![aedes aegypti](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) James Gathany/CDC Related article Zika, Ebola, mad cow: What's in a disease name?](https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/11/health/who-disease-names/index.html) ## The spread ![Researchers hang mosquito traps before sunset. Uganda sits in the middle of seven distinct bio-geographic zones, its biodiversity is credited for attracting the first scientists to Zika forest in the 1930s.](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Researchers hang mosquito traps before sunset. Uganda sits in the middle of seven distinct bio-geographic zones, its biodiversity is credited for attracting the first scientists to Zika forest in the 1930s. Brent Swails/CNN They still use Haddow’s tower today. Just before a recent sunset, a team from UVRI pulled up to the forest edge and unloaded two large Styrofoam coolers from the back of a pickup truck. Dry ice fog poured from the coolers’ edges as they assembled the mosquito traps and headed into the forest toward Haddow’s Tower. [CDC director: What we’re doing about the Zika virus](http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/01/health/cdc-frieden-zika-explained/index.html) Its sides are now rusted and a few of the wooden platforms where they now hang mosquito traps are in varying states of disrepair. Scientists say surrounding construction threatens to make this small preserve even smaller and the research they used to carry out weekly has tapered off. Just like the virus that bears its name, they say, little attention has been paid to Zika Forest. ![A researcher takes a break on Zika forest's landmark tower, built by Alexander Haddow who first identified Zika virus in 1947](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) A researcher takes a break on Zika forest's landmark tower, built by Alexander Haddow who first identified Zika virus in 1947 Brent Swails/CNN When first identified, the virus was only proven to infect monkeys. Even in the subsequent decades, when a dozen or so isolated human cases began to emerge, the symptoms were mild and Zika was never seen as a threat in Uganda. “It was never viewed with importance,” said Lutwama. “No one is interested in making a vaccine for a virus that only causes mild symptoms.” Marilyn Parsons of the Center for Infectious Disease Research says it’s also hard to distinguish Zika’s symptoms from other similar arboviruses. [Halting the spread of Zika in the United States](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/health/halting-spread-of-zika-united-states/index.html) “It was hard to quantify how much Zika infection there was and its impact, since its symptoms are quite similar to other viruses varied by the Aedes mosquitoes: dengue and chikungunya,” said Parsons. It’s unclear just how long Zika has been around because some studies have found immunity in populations in Africa and Asia, perhaps due to the similarity to other viruses. ![Research is heavily focused on diagnostics, something researchers at the Uganda Virus Research Institute hope to change.](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) Research is heavily focused on diagnostics, something researchers at the Uganda Virus Research Institute hope to change. Brent Swails/CNN All of that changed in 2007, when the first large outbreak of Zika was reported on Yap Island in Micronesia, Haddow said. Chikungunya and West Nile followed similar courses. “West Nile circulated for at least 62 years before it emerged in New York City in 1999. The common theme of all of these viruses is that they were not widely studied and they all emerged after a long period of time to cause severe illness.” More troubling, many scientists believe the 2007 strain of Zika has mutated from the original virus found in Uganda, with increased virulence. Subsequent years saw the virus spread quickly through the Pacific islands before landing in South America and Brazil in 2015, where there’s a suspected correlation to an increase in the birth defect microcephaly and other serious conditions. ## ‘Preparing for the next Zika now’ Louis Mukwaya’s office sits in a prime location on the UVRI campus in Entebbe. Just right of the main doors, it’s a large space that somehow manages to have every surface filled with stacks of papers. He started at the institute in 1965, just a few years after Alexander Haddow would step down as its head. A picture of Haddow still hangs in his office. Next to it, a picture of Mukwaya with the younger Haddow from 2013 when he visited the research center his grandfather helped create. ![A climb to the top of the tower that Andrew Haddow's grandfather helped build more than a half-century ago reveals a view shows a once remote research outpost now entirely surrounded by Uganda's urban centers. Any new viruses discovered here will no longer be considered remote.](https://www.cnn.com/media/sites/cnn/cnn-fallback-image.jpg) A climb to the top of the tower that Andrew Haddow's grandfather helped build more than a half-century ago reveals a view shows a once remote research outpost now entirely surrounded by Uganda's urban centers. Any new viruses discovered here will no longer be considered remote. Brent Swails/CNN “He was a very hardworking man,” Mukwaya said of the elder Haddow, before turning his attention to the virus Haddow first identified all those years ago. “You know I keep reading on the Internet about Zika in Brazil and they keep using the word, ‘emerging,’ ‘emerging’ infection. We’ve known about it for a long time, but then even we don’t know what will happen with the virus.” Mukwaya said the institute and others like it simply don’t have the resources to properly study emerging viruses. “We used to do routine collections once a week,” said the renowned entomologist. “These days we don’t get out nearly as much. Funding is poor, this is the problem.” Vaccine and drug development can take years, so basic research that lays the foundation is crucial, Parsons said. “This type of research could identify drug targets, vaccine antigen targets, and develop models for testing them,” she added. A climb to the top of the tower that Andrew Haddow’s grandfather helped build more than a half-century ago reveals that the once remote research outpost now is entirely surrounded by Uganda’s urban centers. Any new viruses discovered here will no longer be considered remote. “The current Zika virus outbreak in South and Central America is another wake-up call that increased globalization and climate change will continue to lead to the emergence of viral pathogens,” said Haddow. “We need to be preparing for the next Zika virus now.” Follow CNN Health on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/CNNHealth) and [Twitter.](https://twitter.com/cnnhealth) Ad Feedback Ad Feedback Ad Feedback Subscribe Sign in My Account - [Settings](https://www.cnn.com/account/settings) - [Newsletters](https://www.cnn.com/newsletters) - [Topics you follow](https://www.cnn.com/follow?iid=fw_var-nav) - [Sign out](https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/02/health/zika-forest-viral-birthplace) Your CNN account Sign in to your CNN account * [Listen](https://www.cnn.com/audio) [Watch](https://www.cnn.com/watch) * - [US](https://www.cnn.com/us) - [Crime & Justice](https://www.cnn.com/us/crime-and-justice) - [Immigration](https://www.cnn.com/us/immigration) - 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Readable Markdown	### Story highlights Researchers first identified the Zika virus in 1947 after a fever developed in a rhesus monkey Many scientists believe the 2007 strain of Zika has mutated from the original virus, with increased virulence Zika Forest, Uganda CNN — The turnoff into the Zika Forest is easy to miss, just a small break in the tree line along the main road between Entebbe Airport and Uganda’s capital, Kampala. A worn-out sign announcing its start only comes into view after a journey down a small dirt path. The [explosive spread of the Zika virus](http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/01/health/zika-virus-public-health-emergency/index.html) may have caught the world by surprise, but its namesake, the forest preserve near the edge of Lake Victoria, isn’t a place to just stumble on to. The researchers who have been coming here for more than a half-century come with a purpose: to study viruses and the mosquitoes that carry them. [Zika sexually transmitted in Texas, CDC confirms](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/02/health/zika-virus-sexual-contact-texas/index.html) Ad Feedback Ad Feedback “Every year we come across new viruses,” said Julius Lutwama, lead researcher at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), which owns the forest. “In the last five years or so, almost each year we come across a new virus in this country.” Uganda sits in the middle of seven distinct biogeographic zones. To the east: the savannahs of Kenya and Tanzania. To the west: the Congo basin rainforest. And Lutwama credits that biodiversity for attracting the first scientists here in the 1930s. What began as a Rockefeller Foundation-funded yellow fever outpost in 1936 soon became a leading laboratory in the study of tropical diseases and later evolved into UVRI in 1977. At the center of all that research is the Zika Forest. Researchers, realizing in the mid-1940s that different mosquitoes are active at different elevations, constructed a massive steel structure in the middle of the forest to conduct their yellow fever experiments. The lead in the project was a Scottish medical entomologist named Alexander Haddow. [Zika virus: What you need to know](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/health/zika-what-you-need-to-know/index.html) “All of my bedtime stories revolved around my grandfather or my father’s experiences growing up in East Africa. As a small child I learned about the Zika Forest, Zika virus and the tower that my grandfather built with funding from the WHO,” said Andrew Haddow, Alexander’s grandson, who is now a researcher working for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. He says he tried other careers, but the choice should have been clear from the beginning. “I read all of his papers and the papers that came out of the lab,” Andrew Haddow said. “We owe our basic understanding of many arboviruses and their associated mosquito and reservoir species to them.” [Zika: How worried should you be?](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/01/health/cdc-frieden-zika-explained/index.html) It was in April of 1947, while studying yellow fever, that Alexander Haddow and colleague George Dick first identified Zika virus after a fever developed in a rhesus monkey placed on a wooden platform on his recently constructed tower. Blood samples revealed an unknown virus that, as protocol dictated, was named [Zika](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/health/zika-what-you-need-to-know/index.html) after the forest in which it was first identified. They still use Haddow’s tower today. Just before a recent sunset, a team from UVRI pulled up to the forest edge and unloaded two large Styrofoam coolers from the back of a pickup truck. Dry ice fog poured from the coolers’ edges as they assembled the mosquito traps and headed into the forest toward Haddow’s Tower. [CDC director: What we’re doing about the Zika virus](http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/01/health/cdc-frieden-zika-explained/index.html) Its sides are now rusted and a few of the wooden platforms where they now hang mosquito traps are in varying states of disrepair. Scientists say surrounding construction threatens to make this small preserve even smaller and the research they used to carry out weekly has tapered off. Just like the virus that bears its name, they say, little attention has been paid to Zika Forest. When first identified, the virus was only proven to infect monkeys. Even in the subsequent decades, when a dozen or so isolated human cases began to emerge, the symptoms were mild and Zika was never seen as a threat in Uganda. “It was never viewed with importance,” said Lutwama. “No one is interested in making a vaccine for a virus that only causes mild symptoms.” Marilyn Parsons of the Center for Infectious Disease Research says it’s also hard to distinguish Zika’s symptoms from other similar arboviruses. [Halting the spread of Zika in the United States](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/26/health/halting-spread-of-zika-united-states/index.html) “It was hard to quantify how much Zika infection there was and its impact, since its symptoms are quite similar to other viruses varied by the Aedes mosquitoes: dengue and chikungunya,” said Parsons. It’s unclear just how long Zika has been around because some studies have found immunity in populations in Africa and Asia, perhaps due to the similarity to other viruses. All of that changed in 2007, when the first large outbreak of Zika was reported on Yap Island in Micronesia, Haddow said. Chikungunya and West Nile followed similar courses. “West Nile circulated for at least 62 years before it emerged in New York City in 1999. The common theme of all of these viruses is that they were not widely studied and they all emerged after a long period of time to cause severe illness.” More troubling, many scientists believe the 2007 strain of Zika has mutated from the original virus found in Uganda, with increased virulence. Subsequent years saw the virus spread quickly through the Pacific islands before landing in South America and Brazil in 2015, where there’s a suspected correlation to an increase in the birth defect microcephaly and other serious conditions. Louis Mukwaya’s office sits in a prime location on the UVRI campus in Entebbe. Just right of the main doors, it’s a large space that somehow manages to have every surface filled with stacks of papers. He started at the institute in 1965, just a few years after Alexander Haddow would step down as its head. A picture of Haddow still hangs in his office. Next to it, a picture of Mukwaya with the younger Haddow from 2013 when he visited the research center his grandfather helped create. “He was a very hardworking man,” Mukwaya said of the elder Haddow, before turning his attention to the virus Haddow first identified all those years ago. “You know I keep reading on the Internet about Zika in Brazil and they keep using the word, ‘emerging,’ ‘emerging’ infection. We’ve known about it for a long time, but then even we don’t know what will happen with the virus.” Mukwaya said the institute and others like it simply don’t have the resources to properly study emerging viruses. “We used to do routine collections once a week,” said the renowned entomologist. “These days we don’t get out nearly as much. Funding is poor, this is the problem.” Vaccine and drug development can take years, so basic research that lays the foundation is crucial, Parsons said. “This type of research could identify drug targets, vaccine antigen targets, and develop models for testing them,” she added. A climb to the top of the tower that Andrew Haddow’s grandfather helped build more than a half-century ago reveals that the once remote research outpost now is entirely surrounded by Uganda’s urban centers. Any new viruses discovered here will no longer be considered remote. “The current Zika virus outbreak in South and Central America is another wake-up call that increased globalization and climate change will continue to lead to the emergence of viral pathogens,” said Haddow. “We need to be preparing for the next Zika virus now.” Follow CNN Health on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/CNNHealth) and [Twitter.](https://twitter.com/cnnhealth)
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