African region, have been urged to be watchful and prepare to tackle any signs of the Zika virus disease.
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At this time the risk for contracting the Zika virus in the United States is low, however health officials say it is probably only a matter of time before the Aedes mosquito moves north. So preventing mosquito bites is a good action plan for everyone. This is particularly true for Zika, where so much is still unknown about the virus, how it is spread and the possible link with microcephaly.
Zika, known to be relatively harmless to adults, has received a torrent of attention from the worldwide health community after it was traced to a mysterious rise in the number of infants born with smaller-than-healthy brains (microcephaly) in Brazil soon after an outbreak hit the nation past year.
The day of activities against the Aedes aegypti mosquito was kicked off on Saturday by President Dilma Rousseff, who participated in several events conducted in a town in the interior of Rio de Janeiro state. Common signs and symptoms of the disease include fever, rash, red eyes, and joint pain.
Many countries have warned pregnant women to take extra precautions against the virus.
Brazil is hardest hit by a huge outbreak of Zika, with some 1.5 million people infected. She calls on citizens to unite to combat the mosquito that transmits the virus, which researchers in Brazil have linked to a rare birth defect.
Currently, 33 countries in the Americas have reported circulation of Zika virus. They ask people who travel to the affected areas to use caution.
Rappoport believes this is “abrupt, simple, and convincing evidence against Zika as the cause”, noting that in order to claim one cause, it must first be established that the virus is present at high levels, which is not the case with the majority of microcephaly patients.
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“Although we did not culture infectious virus from semen, our data may indicate prolonged presence of virus in semen, which in turn could indicate a prolonged potential for sexual transmission”, it said. Although in most cases there are few symptoms, the fear is that pregnant women who become infected risk having babies with the birth defect.
