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First report of Zika virus infection in a returned traveller from the Solomon Islands

Nastaran Rafiei, Krispin Hajkowicz, Andrew Redmond and Carmel Taylor
Med J Aust 2016; 204 (5): . || doi: 10.5694/mja15.01275
Published online: 21 March 2016

A 33-year-old man returning from the Solomon Islands presented to an emergency department in Brisbane after 4 days of retro-orbital headache, fever, and myalgias, which had started 10 days into his journey. On examination, he was afebrile and had a diffuse erythematous rash. A full blood count revealed mild neutropenia and thrombocytopenia. IgG seroconversion for flavivirus was shown by parallel testing, 15 days apart. Zika virus (ZIKV) RNA was also found in blood, urine and throat samples by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. The patient received supportive medical care and recovered fully.


  • 1 Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, QLD
  • 2 Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services, Brisbane, QLD



Acknowledgements: 

We thank Jamie McMahon for assistance with laboratory diagnosis.

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

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