Another year, another mosquito-borne virus is making the news.
Earlier this month, a Texas woman became the first person to be diagnosed with Zika virus within the United States. Last week, in Hawaii, a baby was born with a birth defect that has been linked to the virus. The infections are raising fears that the tropical disease is spreading in the U.S., and could result in a medical crisis similar to the one that is occurring in parts of Central and South America.
Since October, more than 3,500 babies born in Brazil have been diagnosed with microcephaly, a defect that causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and to have developmental problems.
The outbreak has led the Centers for Disease Control to advise pregnant women not to travel to certain countries and is telling women who have been to those countries to be screened and monitored if they have traveled to one of those countries while the outbreak occurred.
Some countries have gone even further. On Jan. 22, El Salvador’s Department of Health advised women to try to avoid becoming pregnant until 2018. More than 5,300 people in the tiny Central American country were diagnosed with the disease in 2015.
What is Zika virus?
Zika is a mosquito-borne virus.
About one in five people who are infected with the virus actually become ill, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The most common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis. Muscle pain and headache can also occur.
Is there a vaccine or a cure?
No. There’s no vaccines or medicines available to cure or treat Zika virus. People who are infected are usually told to rest and drink liquids.
What kind of mosquito carries Zika virus?
Zika virus is transmitted to people through the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti, or yellow fever, mosquito. The same mosquitoes spread the dengue and chikungunya viruses. The mosquitoes were originally native to Africa, but have since spread to most tropical parts of the world, including the southeast United States.
Yellow fever mosquitoes tend to bite during the daytime. To protect against the mosquitoes, the CDC advises people wear long sleeved shirts and long pants, and to use repellents that include DEET, Picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus or products with IR3535 in its ingredients.
How else can Zika be transmitted?
In rare instances, an infected mother can pass the virus to a baby around the time of birth, according to the CDC. It’s possible that a mother can pass the disease to an unborn fetus. There’s been no reports of infants being infected through breast-feeding. It’s also possible that the virus can be passed through infected blood and sexual contact.
What’s the connection between Zika and microcephaly?
While the CDC hasn’t confirmed a direct connection between the virus and the birth defects, researchers looking into rises of babies born with microcephaly in countries have noted that the baby’s mothers also have been infected with Zika.
In Brazil, the rise of cases of Zika and microcephaly have been particularly notable. More than 1.5 million Brazilians have been infected with Zika since 2014. It’s been speculated that the disease was brought to the country by foreigners who visited during the World Cup.
During the same time, the number of cases of microcephaly has spiked. Normally the country sees a couple hundred cases of the condition each year. In 2015, that number jumped to 3,500.
What countries are the CDC advising pregnant women not to travel to?
The CDC is warning pregnant women against traveling to Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Guyana, Cape Verde and Samoa.
What is the status of Zika in the United States so far?
The CDC says there have been a dozen confirmed cases of Zika in the United States since 2015. The virus has been reported in Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey and Texas. All the cases have been found in people that had traveled to the United State after being in a country where infected mosquitoes have been found.
It’s possible, or even likely, that Zika-infected mosquitoes could start appearing in the United States. Other mosquito-borne viruses, such as dengue fever, spread in a similar pattern to Zika before they reached the U.S.
As warmer weather spreads northward, its possible the disease could too.
Contact reporter John Wayne Ferguson at 409-683-5226 or john.ferguson@galvnews.com. Follow him on Twitter, @johnwferguson.