Zika Threat Isn’t Over, More Work Lies Ahead

The public’s take on Zika has been mixed, with many people dismissing it as an overblown problem.

A year ago, the mosquito-borne Zika virus was only beginning to reveal itself as a threat to pregnant women and their unborn babies.

Over the past year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took the extraordinary step of urging pregnant women to avoid travel to dozens of mainly Latin American countries to stave off infection with the Zika virus. With inclement weather prompting Americans to muse about winter vacations in sunny climes, the CDC wants to make it clear: That recommendation still stands.

Three-Parent Baby Brought Smile Back That Zika Wiped Out
The outbreak of Zika ultimately led to the terrifying discovery that Zika infection during pregnancy causes microcephaly in their babies.

‘Severe birth defects in isolated places have exploded into a full-blown crisis once the Zika outbreak was documented.’

Since then, U.S. officials have issued 60 travel alerts along with guidance for athletes and tourists traveling to the Olympics in Rio. They have also deployed more than 1,000 experts to Puerto Rico and elsewhere, tested more than 147,000 lab specimens, initiated 25 major studies and issued more than 230 scientific publications.

And the work is not done, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We have a lot more to do to control both Zika and diseases spread by this mosquito,” Frieden said in an interview. CDC Director Tom Frieden admitted he is worried that people may think the worst of Zika is over and that they can let down their guard.

“We do want to emphasize that this will be the new normal until there’s a [Zika] vaccine. That if you’re pregnant, you should not go to a place where Zika is spreading,” Frieden told STAT in a year-end interview on the agency’s Zika response. “I think there’s a misconception that Zika is either over or was never a serious problem. It’s a devastating problem for families and individuals.”

'Godzilla' El Ni�o of 2015 Fueled Zika Outbreak
A change in weather patterns, brought on by the 'Godzilla' El Niño of 2015, fuelled the Zika outbreak in South America.

The Zika outbreak has been an extraordinarily taxing one for the CDC, Frieden noted, leading to a number of firsts for the agency.

Severe birth defects in isolated places have exploded into a full-blown crisis once the Zika outbreak was documented. While the virus was first identified back in 1947, it only reached the health spotlight in 2016, after starting to affect children in 2015.

Genetic Changes in Analyzing the Zika Virus' Journey Through Time and Place
Isolated from macaque monkeys in the Ziika Forest in Uganda in 1947, the Zika virus still remains a mystery.

What makes this virus difficult to fight is the lack of symptoms. At best, there are some scarce indicators, such as fever or headaches, which can be easily attributed to other causes, leaving the people affected by it with very few choices concerning the identification of its installation in the body.

Source-Medindia

Zika-Linked Birth Defects More Extensive and Severe
Microcephaly is not the most common congenital defect from the Zika virus. Zika-linked abnormalities that occur in human fetuses are more extensive and severe.