The Zika virus (ZIKV) is responsible for the infection of millions of people,
causing mild flu-like symptoms and even severe symptoms, which are related to the
nervous system, including Guillain-Barré syndrome and microcephaly. Nonetheless, it
still remains with no antiviral treatments or effective vaccine to prevent it. Thus,
several efforts have been addressed to discover a medicinal alternative to disrupt the
ZIKV infection worldwide. Notwithstanding these facts, this chapter will focus on the
main antiviral targets associated with ZIKV and their inhibitors identified so far. In
principle, viral and host factors related to the ZIKV life cycle could be targeted for the
development of novel drugs. In fact, there are some macromolecular targets that could
be further investigated aiming to develop anti-ZIKV drugs, some of which remain still
a few explored. In summary, this chapter encourages the exploration of new
opportunities for medicinal chemists to design novel anti-ZIKV agents, providing a
solid hope for future treatments against this disease.
Keywords: Flavivirus, Non-structural proteins, Structural proteins, ZIKV.
