The Zika virus threat

The World Health Organisation recommends European governments to begin preparations against the Zika virus.

Corina Cristea, 12.02.2016, 13:11

Before spring and summer in the northern hemisphere, the World Health
Organisation has cautioned European countries to brace themselves for an
epidemics caused by the Zika virus. Apparently benign, this type of virus is
suspected to have caused severe congenital malformations in the foetuses of
infected pregnant women. The virus is affecting South America, particularly
Brazil, being also present in Europe, in people who returned from Latin
America. Alexandru Rafila, the president of the
Romanian Society of Microbiology, has given assurances that for the time being
the Zika virus is not a threat to Romania:

This is not a virus that we should be afraid of now as it’s mainly
infecting people in the tropical regions of the two Americas. In most of the
cases infections aren’t serious and don’t require any treatment. The main cause
for concern for the healthcare authorities in the region is the suspected
association between the infection with the Zika virus and the appearance of
some brain damage in children born of infected women. A disturbing number of
cases of microcephaly has been reported in those regions.

The Zika virus was first identified in rhesus monkeys in Uganda in 1947
and in humans in 1952, in Uganda and Tanzania. More recently, the first cases
were reported last year in Brazil and today, around 1.5 million people have
been infected. The virus is borne by a certain type of mosquito. Alexandru
Rafila explains:

The virus is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito. The
virus displays no symptoms in most patients, but some may eperience fever,
joint pain and red eyes. There is no specific treatment, but the disease
typically clears within a week. Only one way of transmitting this disease is
known, from a pregnant women to her unborn baby.

Scientists in Brazil are also considering the human-to-human
transmission of Zika, as the virus was found in the saliva and urine of those
infected, which indicates that the virus could be transmitted through human
contact as well, not only through mosquitoes. There is no anti-Zika vaccine at
the moment, and experts in the field estimate that it could take a year to
develop one. Several pharmaceutical companies have announced they are already
working on a vaccine and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has created a team
of experts to help pharmaceutical companies and doctors seeking to develop a
vaccine or treatment case of infection.

There are similarities between Zika and dengue fever and West Nile
fever, for which a vaccine exists or is being developed. These similarities are
fuelling hopes for a future cure for Zika, but the rapid spreading of the virus
has turned the search for a cure into a round-the-clock race. According to the
latest World Health Organisation estimates, the number of people infected in
the Americas could reach four million in 2016. The organisation’s director-general
Margaret Chan called Zika an extraordinary event, which requires coordinated
response:

After a review of the evidence, the
Committee advised that the recent cluster of microcephaly cases and other
neurological disorders reported in Brazil, following a similar cluster in
French Polynesia in 2014, constitutes an extraordinary event and a public
health threat to other parts of the world. In their view, a coordinated international response is needed to minimize the
threat in affected countries and reduce the risk of further international
spread. Members of the Committee agreed that the situation meets the conditions
for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Concurrently with efforts to develop a vaccine,
all countries in Latin America have mobilised to fight the virus. Brazil is
running a pilot project using genetically modified mosquitoes. This type of
mosquito, created by a British company, is spread daily into the air by means
of a minivan. This mosquito is mating with wild females passing a lethal gene
to its offspring so that an entire generation is killed before turning into
adults. The Dominican Republic has mobilised the army in the fight against the
tiger mosquito, responsible for carrying the Zika virus. Dominican troops are
involved in clean up operations and for various procedures aimed at reducing
air humidity levels. The French authorities have recently ruled that tourists
recently returning from the affected regions can donate blood only 28 days
after their return in order to diminish the risk of transmitting the disease
through blood transfusions.

The appearance of this disease has also sparked
various speculations. Some say the Zika outbreak became possible after the 2012
release of genetically modified mosquitoes, whose main aim was to fight the
spreading of other diseases such as the dengue fever.