Rapid communications First case of laboratory-confirmed Zika virus infection

tion was diagnosed in a German traveller returning from Thailand. The patient reported a clinical picture resembling dengue fever. Serological investigations revealed anti-ZIKV-IgM and-IgG, as well as ZIKV-specific neutralising antibodies in the patient’s blood. In Europe, viraemic travellers may become a source of local transmission of ZIKV, because Aedes albopictus (Skuse) and Ae. aegypti (Linnaeus) are invasive mos-quitoes and competent vectors for ZIKV. We report the clinical and laboratory findings of a Zika virus (ZIKV) infection imported into Europe by a German traveller from Thailand, in winter of 2013. Case description A previously healthy German traveller in his early 50s was seen at a tertiary hospital, Germany, on 2