With no cure to microcephaly or vaccine against Zika, Brazil’s government has ordered out tens of thousands of troops and health workers in a door to door campaign to clean up stagnant water pools where mosquitoes breed.
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“One of these infants was asymptomatic, and the other had thrombocytopenia [a deficiency of blood platelets] and a diffuse rash”, noted a team led by Katherine Fleming-Dutra, of the agency’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infections. An estimated eight out of 10 people infected with Zika experience no symptoms at all. “CDC also recommends that pregnant women consider postponing travel to areas with Zika virus transmission due to the possible association between Zika and certain birth defects”.
Health officials are closely watching Colombia, which had a Zika outbreak after Brazil and so far has not seen a spike in microcephaly cases.
The new advisory was published February 19 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. “It is a silent infection in a group of highly vulnerable individuals – pregnant women – that is associated with a disgusting outcome for their babies”.
Aylward also pointed to the “probability” that the Zika virus will have “gone through” a large slice of the country’s population by then, so many Brazilians might have developed an immunity to the disease by the time of the Aug.5-21 games.
The WHO is taking the approach of, as Aylward puts it, considering “the virus guilty until proven innocent” because of the devastating potential consequences resulting from Zika.
However, doctors are clarifying that if a mother is infected, it doesn’t automatically mean her baby will be born with birth defects. The placental barrier regulates which substances cross from mother to child. The CDC is also investigating the possible link between Zika and Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a disease that can cause paralysis. People who do travel to areas where Zika is being transmitted should take steps to avoid mosquito bites.
Mr Maila said the virus is present in the blood of a patient for a very short time, typically less than seven days.
World Health Organization will need 56 million dollars to implement the actions necessary to respond to the Zika disease that already has extended to 30 countries.
It’s advised that if you’re pregnant you delay travel to those affected countries.
Provided information on Zika virus to healthcare and community groups throughout the county.
“Scientists are increasingly confident that Zika is causing microcephaly, but people may have different judgments about how much proof is enough”, Schuchat told an assembled group of reporters during a two-day meeting in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia recently.
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Another method being studied is infecting mosquitos with a bacteria, the Wolbachia, that does not infect humans and that can prevent mosquito eggs from hatching and can reduce a mosquito’s ability to transmit a virus.
