The virus has been linked to an
increase in cases of a rare neurological condition called microcephaly in
babies. Microcephaly results in babies being born with abnormally small heads
and sometimes leads to developmental delays.
This is what prompted the
Salvadoran vice minister of health to tell women there not to get pregnant for
two years. "We're recommending that women who may get pregnant plan their
pregnancies and try to avoid getting pregnant this year and the next,"
Eduardo Espinoza said. Colombia and Jamaica issued
similar recommendations for women to delay pregnancy earlier this week. Brazil was
the first nation to give this advice in November after they saw
a sharp increase in the rare birth defect coinciding with an outbreak of the
virus there.
The Ministry of Health has recorded more than 3,700 cases of
microcephaly in 2015 and so far this year. In comparison, 147 cases of
microcephaly were recorded in 2014.
The CDC conducted tests on
human tissue from babies in Brazil confirming the link between Zika virus and
microcephaly.
Health officials there and in
El Salvador, also suspect a surge of the rare disorder Guillian
Barre Syndrome, or GBS, is connected to Zika virus. GBS is a rare
disorder in which an individual's immune system attacks nerve cells, resulting
in muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis. The CDC is working with the
Ministry of Health in Brazil and has a team on the ground conducting
investigating a possible link between the two.
Dangers of Zika virus -"It's
a strong message to tell people to stop getting pregnant for a couple of
years," said Stephen Higgs, PhD, president of the American Society of Tropical
Medicine and Hygiene. He likens it to the message to promote safe
sex for the prevention of HIV. "Some people will pay attention to this and
realize they are at risk for something, others are obviously going to ignore
it," he said.
Higgs believes a unified
message could help, noting that El Salvador recommends a two-year halt on
pregnancy while Jamaica, for example is recommending 6 to 12 months. This could
come in the form of an overarching announcement from the World Health
Organization or the Pan American Health Organization that applies to all Zika-infected
countries, rather than individual countries making recommendations. The message
will probably change too as more is learned about the virus.
In the U.S. there are confirmed
cases of the virus among individuals who have traveled to infected countries,
including in Illinois, Florida and Texas, among others. However, there are no
known cases of locally transmitted illness. "These imported cases might
result in local human-to-mosquito-to-human spread of the virus in limited areas
of the continental Unites States that have the appropriate mosquito
vectors," according to a new report on the spread of the virus issued by the CDC .
How to keep
mosquitoes carrying Zika virus at bay
There is no prevention or
treatment, that is why the best course of action is to prevent
mosquito bites by using mosquito repellant and covering exposed
skin. The aedis aegyptia mosquito, which transmits the disease, bites all day
long, so individuals need to reapply that repellant and not let their guard
down. Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which are found throughout the U.S. and are
known for transmitting dengue fever and chikungunya,
may also transmit the virus, the CDC said.
However, mosquito bites and
mother to unborn baby aren't the only ways this virus is transmitted. The new CDC report documented cases of infection from
sexual transmission, blood transfusion and laboratory exposure. The good news is, while it's
not certain, scientists believe once an individual has been infected with the
virus, they are immune and won't become infected again, according to Higgs. Report
Courtesy of CNN Health.