A rapid response by the public-health and research communities to infectious viral diseases depends on the reproducible tracking and analysis of pathogen isolates. A standard strain-naming convention for Zika virus sequences is therefore urgently needed. This will ensure that the exchange and interpretation of data is unambiguous in efforts to contain the current outbreak in the tropical Western Hemisphere.

Zika virus strain names for isolates associated with the outbreak are arbitrarily designated as BeH818995, ZikaSPH2015 and BR/949/15, for example. Such names are largely opaque and inconsistent when it comes to context, although some may include useful metadata about isolates. It is impractical to include all relevant metadata in the isolate name, but some consistent information is useful for identifying specific isolates.

Building on conventions in other viral fields, we urge the Zika community to adopt a standard nomenclature for isolate names, specifying the virus type (ZIKV), host species abbreviation, geographical location of isolation, unique identification string and year of isolation. The preferred isolate name for BeH818995, for example, would then be ZIKV/H. sapiens/Brazil/BeH818995/2015.