Zika virus ‘spreading explosively’, millions of cases expected; 23 countries already impacted; An estimated 80 per cent of people infected have no symptoms
Submitted by IWB, on January 28th, 2016
The World Health Organisation expects the Zika virus, which is spreading through the Americas, to affect between 3 million and 4 million people, a disease expert says.
The WHO’s director-general said the spread of the mosquito-borne disease had gone from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions.
Marcos Espinal, an infectious disease expert at the WHO’s Americas regional office, said: “We can expect 3 to 4 million cases of Zika virus disease”, but he gave no time frame.
There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes.
An estimated 80 per cent of people infected have no symptoms, making it difficult to know whether they have been infected.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the organisation will convene an emergency committee on Monday to help determine the level of the international response to an outbreak of the virus spreading from Brazil that is believed to be linked to severe birth defects.
Zika virus spread has WHO considering global health emergency.
There are estimates that there may have been 1.5 million Zika cases in Brazil, where the outbreak started last year, a senior WHO official said. A senior Brazilian health official said via video link that some 4,000 babies had been born with unusually small heads amid the outbreak.
Besides the observed birth defects and neurological syndromes, Chan said WHO was also deeply concerned because of the risk that the virus might spread further through mosquitoes, because people in the Americas lack immunity, and because there is currently no vaccine or rapid diagnostic method.
“Moreover, conditions associated with this year’s El Nino weather pattern are expected to increase mosquito populations greatly in many areas,” Chan said, referring to the warming of ocean temperatures that occurs every few years.
A man tested positive for the virus in a Danish hospital this week, but local health authorities said there was no risk of an epidemic since the Aedes mosquito is not found in the country.
“We don’t even know yet if this virus crosses the placenta from mother to child,” he said.
The Latest: WHO warns Zika could spread to China
The World Health Organization says China and other countries with dengue fever should be on the lookout for Zika virus infections.
Dr. Bruce Aylward, who runs WHO’s outbreak response department, said any country that has the Aedes mosquito should be concerned about the possibility of the Zika virus arriving.
More Countries Report Zika Virus — as Some Airlines Offer Refunds
Costa Rica reported its first case of Zika virus infection Tuesday as the mysterious virus spreads across the Americas, and U.S. officials added the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic to a growing list of countries that pregnant women might want to avoid.
That makes 24 countries on the list, and the World Health Organization predicts the virus will eventually end up in virtually every Western Hemisphere country.
U.S. health officials briefed President Barack Obama on what they do and don’t know about the virus and its spread. “The President was briefed on the potential economic and developmental impacts of the Zika virus spreading in the Western Hemisphere,” the White House said in a statement.
Travelers are bringing the virus to the U.S., although it’s not expected to spread widely in the U.S. anytime soon.
The Arkansas Department of Health is the latest U.S. state to report a case. New York, Illinois, Florida and Hawaii have also reported cases. The virus is carried by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes – a species more common in the tropics although it’s found in warmer U.S. states.
“With current outbreaks in the Americas, cases among U.S. travelers will most likely increase,” Ingrid Rabe, a medical epidemiologist, told doctors in a telephone briefing Tuesday.
“With no vaccine or treatment currently available to prevent or treat Zika infection, the best way for individuals—and pregnant women in particular—to protect themselves is to avoid traveling to places where Zika is known to be spreading,” Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said in a blog post Tuesday.
Emergency Meeting Scheduled to Address Spread of Zika Virus
GENEVA (AP) — Declaring that the Zika virus is “spreading explosively,” chief of the World Health Organization announced that it will hold an emergency meeting of independent experts on Monday to decide if the virus outbreak should be declared an international health emergency.
At a special meeting Thursday in Geneva, WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said the virus – which has been linked to birth defects and neurological problems – is becoming more of a threat.
Chan said although there was no definitive proof that the Zika virus was responsible for a spike in the number of babies being born with abnormally small heads in Brazil, “the level of alarm is extremely high.” She also noted a possible relationship between Zika infection and Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause temporary paralysis.
Chan cited four main reasons why WHO was “deeply concerned” about Zika: The possible link to birth defects and brain syndromes, the prospect of further spread, a lack of immunity among people living in the newly affected areas and the absence of vaccines, treatments or quick diagnostic tests for the virus.
Why is Zika suddenly spreading?
As to why it has suddenly started to spread more aggressively, there are a couple of possibilities.
It could be a genetic mutation, some change in the virus which has enhanced its ability to infect adults and harm unborn children. Pinning this down would require some detailed genetic work, and because Zika has long seemed a relatively mild disease, there’s little existing research.
Alternatively, it may be less about the virus and more about its victims. In Africa and south-east Asia, long exposure to Zika may have given people some immunity, which functioned as a kind of check on the virus’s spread. But in the Western Hemisphere, no one has immunity, leaving Zika free to do its virulent work. In some ways, this explanation would count as good news, suggesting that today’s continent-covering sickness may give way to widespread immunity within just a few years.
That’s good news? A whole continent sick?
Eventually, though, it’s possible that Zika will find a home in the US. When a mosquito bites an infected person—perhaps just returned from a trip to Brazil—that mosquito becomes a carrier, passing the virus to future bite-victims and setting off a chain reaction where a growing number of sick people pass the virus to hungry mosquitoes who then fly off and infect others.
Zika virus sickens local resident
A Monroe County resident contracted Zika virus abroad and fell ill after returning home, health officials said Thursday.
The unidentified patient has recovered and there is no likelihood that the virus was transmitted to anyone else here. The patient is now the fifth New Yorker to become infected with Zika while travelling abroad in areas where the virus is endemic, health officials said. Two are from New York City, one from Nassau County, and one from Orange County, according to news reports.
Zika Virus May Have Spread To Common Mosquito
Scientists in the epicentre of the Zika outbreak suspect the virus is being carried by another, more widespread mosquito, dramatically increasing the risk of it spreading worldwide.
Up until now, it was thought the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is confined to the tropics, was solely spreading the virus.
But scientists at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Recife, Pernambuco State, in the northeast of the country, believe otherwise.
They say they are as little as a month away from confirming that the virus is also being carried and transmitted by the much more common Culex mosquito.
There are 20 times more Culex mosquitos in existence as the Aedes aegypti and they are significantly more widespread – breeding throughout most of the Americas, parts of Africa and Asia – so increasing the chances of the virus spreading.