The rising cases of Zika virus infections around the world is an issue of concern among health stakeholders. According to McNeil et al. (2016), The W.H.O has declared the virus to be an international public health issue because the virus has significant effects on the development unborn babies. It is being feared that by the end of the year 2016, about four million people will be infected with the Zika virus globally. These have prompted the health experts at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in the US to persuade expectant mothers not to visit countries that have recorded cases of Zika virus especially the Latin America and the Caribbean.
Zika infections are linked to the development of abnormally smaller heads and the damages to the brain among the infants.Mc Neil et al. (2016) argues that control measures like testing of the pregnant women who have visited areas affected by the virus must be enhanced so as to control the spread of the virus effectively.
According to Tevernise and McNeil (2016), the Zika virus is spread by mosquitoes. The disease is closely related to the West Nile, Dengue and yellow fever. Although the disease was first discovered in 1947 in the Zika forest of the Republic of Uganda. The disease has been associated with the Asia and African continent until recently when it was reported in Brazil.
Many countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean have reported cases of the Zika virus. The disease spreads rapidly because very few people have a strong immunity against the Zika virus. Also, millions of people in the tropics are at risk of being infected with the disease. The most worrying aspect of the Zika virus is that the disease does not show any symptoms and does not have a lasting harm to the infected person. The only concern is in pregnant women who develop temporary paralysis when they are exposed to the virus and the defects among the infants.
The female mosquitoes are the ones responsible in the spreading of the Zika virus. The mosquitoes pick the virus when they bite an infected person. The virus travels through the gut, circulatory system as salivary glands. The virus is then transmitted if the mosquito bites an uninfected person. When an infected mosquito bites a person, it first injects contaminated saliva so as to inhibit its prey which is blood from clotting. In doing so, the mosquito ends up transmitting the virus to the victim.
The mosquitoes of the Aedes genus are the ones responsible for the spread of the disease. The mosquitoes can breed in a pool of water or even bottle caps that have water. Unlike the normal mosquitoes, which bite at night, the mosquitoes responsible for the Zika virus usually bite during the day. The United States is at greater risk of the Zika virus because the mosquitoes that are responsible for the virus are found in the state of Florida and Hawaii since they are experiencing a tropical climate. In Asia, the Asia tiger mosquito is the one known for transmitting the virus (McNeil et al., 2016).
Experts in the Zika virus hold an opinion that the virus is only spread through the mosquito bite. However, as of February 2016, only three victims reported cases of the virus being transmitted sexually. Although there are conflicting reports about whether the virus can be transmitted sexually, the study of the virus on a man from Tahiti, who was 44year of age showed that the man had the Zika virus in his semen. However, it is not known whether he had infected anyone. Another contradicting report is by an American scientist from Colorado, who returned from Africa after conducting a study on malaria. His wife exhibited the Zika symptoms while the man did not show any symptoms. However, a blood test revealed that they both had the Zika virus. Basing on the contradicting reports to whether the Zika virus can be transmitted sexually or not the C.D.C advises that expectant women should avoid unprotected contacts with men who have travelled from areas that have reported cases of the Zika virus. The agency recommends that the couples should have protected sex for at least one month. Besides, another stalemate is whether a woman can transmit the disease to his partner through sexual intercourse.
The possibilities of the Zika virus causing microcephaly, a condition that is characterized by smaller heads among the infants was first reported in October 2015 by doctors in Brazil due to an upsurge in the number of cases of children being born with abnormal heads. Although the circumstantial evidence shows that the deformed heads are caused by the Zika virus. There are others who think that the condition might be caused by multiple infections from other viruses and that Zika should not be solely attributed to the development of the small heads in the new babies.
Infants born with microcephaly are always reported to have small heads. Although there have not been any links between the small head and the future development of the baby. The Zika virus stops the head and the brain of the unborn baby from development in the early stages of pregnancy. Studies have shown that children with microcephaly experience issues like acoustic problems, developmental delays and intellectual deficits. However, the problems vary from one child to another.
As noted by McNeil et al. (2016) microcephaly can also be caused by other factors. For instance, an expectant mother who consumes alcohol exposes their unborn babies to the risks of microcephaly. Also, measles and diabetes in the early stages of infants can cause the condition a fact that can retard the development of the infant. Nonetheless, there is no cure for the condition of the small head. The victim can only undergo therapy to help them cope up with the condition.
Until recently, the Zika virus was not given prominence as a global issue since the Zika virus doesn’t show any significant signs (McNail et al., 2016). Only a small fraction of the people infected recorded symptoms like red eyes, fever, joint pain and rash and those who were infected did not need to be hospitalized. Also, there is no known globally recognized test for Zika since its symptoms are related to those of yellow fever and dengue. A sophisticated molecular testing is always needed for the Zika virus to be detected.
It is imperative for those women who have visited countries that have reported cases of the Zika virus to undergo screening within two weeks. The major problem to the regulation is that many health facilities in the Caribbean countries do not have the capacity to test the Zika virus a fact that can increase the spread of the disease. Women who want to visit countries infected by Zika are advised to use protected sex until when they will undergo testing to a certain whether they have the virus or not.
Critique
Despite the fact that the article was informative. The writer did not support his findings with scientific evidence. Most of the observations were based on hearsays and what was reported by other people without confirming if the information was a representation of the real statistics on the ground. Besides, most of the information were not clear as in some cases; the writer said that the information about whether women can transmit the Zika virus through unprotected sexual interaction is not known. That shows that the writer is not in touch with the experts on the ground to authoritatively give reports on the Zika virus a fact that make his information to lack validity and thus not reliable.
References
McNeil, D.G., Louis, C.S. and Fleur, N. (2016).Short answers to hard questions about Zika virus.Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/health/what-is-zika- virus.html
Tevernise, S. and McNeil, D.G. (2016).Zika virus a global health emergency, W.H.O. says. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/02/health/zika-virus-world-health- organization.html?_r=0
Links to the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/health/what-is-zika- virus.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/02/health/zika-virus-world-health- organization.html?_r=0
