The Health Ministry is advising caution and says it’s following the situation in countries with the Zika virus closely.
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A baby born to a mother who has been infected during pregnancy has a chance to be born with microcephaly, or an undersized head.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer announced a plan Sunday to stop the virus. “Otherwise, this virus is not unlike the West Nile Virus that entered the U.S.in 1999 or Chickungunya, Dengue or really any other mosquito-borne arbovirus”.
And an official at the World Health Organization office for the Americas, where the disease has spread to 23 countries in a matter of months, said we can “expect three to four million cases”. Another contrast to Ebola: there is no vaccine or cure for the disease.
Zika is has been linked to serious birth defects.
Some Latin American countries have asked women to delay getting pregnant during the outbreak, and US authorities have advised pregnant women to avoid travel to the affected areas. Brazil has reported as many as 1.5 million cases of Zika infection.
Senator Schumer said he hopes there could be vaccine by the end of the year. It was detected for the first time in Uganda in 1947 and was named for a forest south of that nation’s capital of Kampala.
Travel issues aside, doctors are particularly concerned about the effect Zika will have on countries where abortion is illegal, and fear women will put their health at risk via back alley procedures. Most people who contract Zika experience no symptoms and for those who do, the symptoms are typically mild and rarely fatal.
The Zika virus outbreak has spread to 25 countries in the Americas. These include genetically engineered mosquitoes to prevent breeding; a bacteria called Wolbachia, which infests insect eggs in a number of species, although not the Aedes mosquitoes that causes Zika; and giving everyone in a community a deworming medication called ivermectin, which kills any mosquitoes that bite the person taking the drug.
The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention has also been sending text messages to people traveling in regions where Zika has spread to inform them of the disease and preventive measures. The CDC also suggested that women thinking about becoming pregnant should consult with their physicians before traveling. “It is not a problem for the Olympic Games”, explained the mayor, adding that the city council is working on an intense fumigation plan for the Olympic buildings, stadiums and accommodation.
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WHO Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward warned that though the Zika virus is now circulating at a very high intensity in the Americas, gaps remain regarding the situation on the ground.
