Africa, beware of Zika virus

While Lassa Fever is busy operating in West Africa, Zika virus is marching through Central and South America. The virus is linked to thousands of cases of microcephaly, a serious birth defect where the baby’s brain is under-developed, leading to permanent developmental disability and other health problems. The crisis has generated panic in affected countries, […]

While Lassa Fever is busy operating in West Africa, Zika virus is marching through Central and South America. The virus is linked to thousands of cases of microcephaly, a serious birth defect where the baby’s brain is under-developed, leading to permanent developmental disability and other health problems. The crisis has generated panic in affected countries, such as El Salvador, where the government recently called on the entire population to avoid pregnancy for at least two years.
Caused by a virus transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, the Zika virus is also known to be transmitted from a mother to her baby during pregnancy. According to medical professionals, the Zika virus has an incubation period of about 3 to 12 days after the bite of an infected mosquito. The virus is usually asymptomatic in roughly 80% of individuals who have been infected, and its symptoms typically include fever, rash, joint pain, conjunctivitis, muscle pain and headache.
From whence comes this plague? The virus was first isolated in April 1947 from a rhesus macaque monkey that had been placed in a cage in the Zika Forest (zika meaning “overgrown” in the Luganda language of Uganda), near Lake Victoria by the scientists of the Yellow Fever Research Institute. In 1968 it was isolated for the first time from humans in Nigeria. From 1951 through 1981, evidence of human infection was reported from other African countries such as the Central African Republic, Egypt, Gabon, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Uganda, as well as in parts of Asia including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. In April 2007 the first outbreak outside of Africa and Asia occurred on the island of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia.
Since April 2015, a large, ongoing outbreak of Zika virus that began in Brazil has spread to Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Suriname, and Venezuela. According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Brazilian health authorities reported more than 3,500 microcephaly cases between October 2015 and January 2016. Some of the affected infants have had a severe type of microcephaly and some have died.  More studies are planned to learn more about the risks of Zika virus infection during pregnancy. In the worst affected region of Brazil approximately 1 percent of newborns are suspected of microcephaly.
John Tosin Ajiboye, writes from Lagos via [email protected], 08138966292