Zika Virus 'Spreading Explosively' With Alarm Level Set 'Extremely High', World Health Organization Says
The Zika virus, whose activity has remained sporadic until a year ago, is making a huge comeback that three to four million unsuspecting people can be infected within this year, according to the World Health Organization.
The mosquito Aedes aegypti that transmits the Zika virus is the same insect that carries dengue, Chikungunya, yellow fever, and the West Nile virus. The said virus is clawing its way into communities in 24 countries at present, as reported by CNN News.
"That's a pandemic in progress," warned Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. "It isn't as if it's turning around and dying out, it's getting worse and worse as the days go by."
The difference between the Zika virus and other established virus-related diseases is that no vaccine is currently available for it and neither is there a specific medicine already designed to treat its infection. U.S. President Barrack Obama recently held a meeting with some scientists and went on to discuss a cure for the disease. With the absence of available treatment, authorities are focusing on educating people about the risks and preventive measures against the virus, wrote Washington Post.
The Zika virus is heavily linked to microcephaly in infants, or babies born with abnormally small heads, and Guillain-Barré Syndrome in adults, a form of ascending paralysis. There are more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly in Brazil, the epicenter of the virus, and many of them are confirmed through ultrasound to have been caused by the virus, as per a report from Brazil's health minister Claudio Maierovitch.
Reports suggest that the most notable signs seen in pregnant women who were infected with the virus and later gave birth to children with microcephaly were that they had rash and fever during the first and second trimesters.
Traveling is one of the most cited reasons of contracting and spreading the disease. Countries with reported Zika virus outbreaks include Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, Suriname, Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Venezuela.
The Centers for Disease Control instructs travelers to always wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants, and sleep in air-conditioned rooms or areas with screens to prevent mosquito bites. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is very active during the day and residents living in the above mentioned countries should use Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered insect repellents.