The World Health Organization, or WHO, declared Zika a global health emergency. According to Dr. William Petri, professor of medicine and infectious diseases and international health, this is a prudent attempt by WHO to catch the spread of the virus early.
The Zika virus is usually transmitted to humans by Aedes mosquitoes. However, there is currently no mosquito transmission of Zika in the United States.
“The cases we have right now are all people who traveled to an area that has Zika virus. We had one sexually-transmitted case as well in Texas,” Petri said.
Zika has been previously documented in Africa and Asia, but has been seen in South America for the past two years now. WHO predicts 4 million people will be infected by the end of the year.
“Presumably what happened was a traveler from Asia or Africa [who] had Zika infection got bitten by mosquitoes from Brazil,” Petri said. “Then those mosquitoes in turn infected other people and then were able to establish sort of a reservoir of infected people with Zika virus that could then maintain transmission.”
Eighty percent of people infected with Zika experience no symptoms. Those infected will experience fever, rash, conjunctivitis and joint pain for about a week, according to Dr. Anjali Silva, a staff physician at Student Health.
Zika is also self-limiting. Like the flu or common cold, it requires no treatment. Once the virus is out of the bloodstream, it has no persistent effects.
Zika was not considered dangerous until public health officials became concerned the virus could lead to microcephaly — smaller heads — in children born to women infected during pregnancy. The link is yet-unproven, but health officials are cautioning anyone who is pregnant or trying to become pregnant to refrain from travelling to areas where Zika is prevalent.
Aedes mosquitoes often breed in still accumulated water from sites like discarded tires, tin cans and propped up gutters.
According to Petri, environmental steps can be taken to prevent them from growing and spreading. These sorts of mosquito control programs, bolstered by the use of mosquito nets and insect repellant, should be able to halt transmission.
“There's probably two really good ways to prevent this infection: one is mosquito control and the other will be through vaccination,” Petri said.
The Zika virus very closely resembles Hepatitis C and Dengue, both of which have effective vaccines.
“They can use the same backbone they use for Dengue vaccine for the Zika virus vaccine, so it’s kind of a jump start in making a vaccine against this,” Petri said. “There is a Zika virus vaccine that is going into human clinical trials already.”
There are many myths distorting public perception about the Zika virus. Below are the facts clearing up or clarifying these myths associated with the virus.
Myth: Zika is dangerous for everyone.
Fact: Zika results in relatively mild symptoms lasting only a week for most people. Zika is thought to be dangerous to the child of a pregnant woman, but the correlation is yet to be conclusively proven, according to Petri.
Myth: Zika is dangerous to all women who one day may want to have kids.
Fact: “The virus is really only in your blood for about a week or so and that's the time when there's risk to a pregnancy. But after you've had the disease there are no lingering effects or risk of birth defects or any kind of link to pregnancy,” Silva said.
Myth: Zika can only be spread by mosquitoes.
Fact: There has been at least one case of the Zika virus spreading through sexual transmission, according to Petri.
Myth: You should avoid travel to South and Central American countries in order to avoid Zika.
Fact: Unless you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, there is no reason to alter your travel plans. Take precautions like wearing insect repellent and avoiding opportunities for mosquito bites. In fact, there are mosquito-borne illnesses much more dangerous than Zika, like dengue and malaria, which have existed in South and Central America for much longer.
Myth: Zika is a new infectious disease.
Fact: The Zika virus has been around for decades in Asia and Africa, but was only recently introduced into South America, according to Petri.
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