Also on Saturday, the World Health Organization confirmed cases of GBS were also rising in Brazil, El Salvador, Suriname and Venezuela.
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There is deep concern for pregnant women because Zika virus may linked to a rare, but potentially devastating birth defects.
At an emergency meeting on Feb.1, WHO appeared to take appropriate action to avoid a repeat of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, which resulted in harsh criticism over the global health organization’s slow response to the crisis that eventually killed more than 10,000 people, mostly in West Africa. Debby Herbenick, sex researcher and human sexuality professor at IU, wrote a letter to the editor to the Indiana Daily Student last week to talk about
just that.
But those warnings ignore the fact that most pregnancies in the region are unplanned, poor women in these countries have little access to birth control, and many lack control over their own fertility because of a high rate of sexual violence.
“It’s not going to be an epidemic, like it is in Brazil”, she says.
The incubation period (the time from exposure to symptoms) of Zika virus disease is not clear, but is likely to be a few days. Those thought to have been infected could then have ultrasound scans to monitor their fetus’ development.
If you’re at risk for contracting Zika through mosquito bites, it’s essential you prevent getting bitten by using bug spray and wearing protective clothing.
Zika virus occurs in tropical areas with large mosquito populations, and is known to circulate in Africa, the Americas, Southern Asia and Western Pacific. According to a recent health bulletin, there are 31,555 cases of Zika in Colombia, and 5,013 of those infected are pregnant women.
The newest cases of the virus were detected in a 56-year-old Butler County woman returning from Guyana, and the Licking County man, who is 60.
Brazil has been the affected by the virus with over a million people, according to Vox.com.
“We have not seen reports of deaths of adults directly linked to the viral infection”, said Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, the WHO assistant director-general for health systems and innovation. “Often there are no symptoms at all, and the infected person recovers fully”.
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Understandably, that is enough to make many pregnant women panic.
