Brazil’s government launched a nationwide campaign on Saturday to fight the Zika virus, with President Dilma Rousseff and cabinet ministers personally visiting homes and handing out leaflets along with 220,000 troops. The disease has sparked alarm because it’s linked to microcephaly, a condition that leads to birth defects.
Advertisement
Earlier this month, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the state will offer free testing to all pregnant women who had traveled to a country with a Zika outbreak, regardless of whether they exhibit symptoms.
While “no scientific evidence to date confirms a link between Zika virus and microcephaly or GBS”, the agency pointed out that GBS was also observed during the 2013-14 Zika virus outbreak in French Polynesia.
A new report issued by a group of doctors with the University Network for Environment and Health, who practice in Brazilian villages that have water treated with the insecticide pyriproxyfen, suggests that the spike in microcephaly cases in the region may be caused by the chemical, rather than the mosquito-borne Zika virus.
But the pro-choice push is creating a backlash, particularly among the families of disabled children. Additionally, there have been more than 50 cases of Americans infected overseas. They argue that all babies, including those with severe forms of microcephaly, have a right to be born.
Soldiers in Sao Paulo handed out fliers with the slogan “A mosquito isn’t stronger than a whole country” at entrances to the popular Ibirapuera park. Some of the nation’s top newspapers have also weighed in, running editorials urging abortion laws to be revisited.
If you’re pregnant and planning to travel to a country that’s been infected with the Zika virus, consider postponing your travel. The proposal has been approved by a House of Representatives committee, though its prospects in the full chamber are unclear.
WHO’s actions regarding Zika is needed as the virus is causing concern among health officials worldwide.
Brazil’s armed forces mobilised 200,000 military personnel on a “day of action” to raise awareness of the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries the Zika virus.
The Zika virus acts stealthily up to 80 percent of infected people show no symptoms typical, such as fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis. CDC is working with worldwide public health partners and with state health departments to keep local healthcare providers informed. He expects that we’ll see “hundreds or thousands of travelers returning to the U.S. And, unfortunately, some of those individuals will be pregnant women”.
The government said it only used larvicides recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). For men and women combined, the exercise program did not significantly reduce fall injuries, but in men it was associated with reduced risks of serious fall injuries, broken bones.
Advertisement
The Health Ministry says that between October and February there were 462 cases of microcephaly, up from an average of 150 previously.
