In May of 2015, Zika Virus was first reported in Brazil and since then, it has spread rapidly throughout different parts of southern and central America. Since its discovery in 1947 in Uganda, it has spread to many places. However, there is a connection; they are tropical areas where Aedes mosquitoes thrive. In 1977-1978, there was an outbreak in Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia, in 2007, there was an outbreak in Yap, Micronesia and in 2013, there was an outbreak in French Polynesia. However, all of these outbreaks are much smaller than the one in Brazil in 2015. Travel between all of these different places aided the spread of the Virus because once a mosquito drinks the blood of an infected person, it too becomes infected, and can infect any other person it bites. When an infected person travels to other places where Aedes mosquitoes exist, or have oral sex or sexual intercourse in a foreign area, they can spread the virus. But, Aedes mosquitoes only survive in tropical areas, so, the outbreak did not affect countries like Chile, even though the bordering countries had be infected (BBC & Centers for disease Control and Prevention).
Zika virus is a flaviviridae virus, which is part of the arbovirus family. Arboviruses are transmitted by bites and include diseases such as Dengue, Yellow Fever and West Nile Disease. The virus was first found in the Zika Forest in Uganda in 1947 where it was first isolated in a monkey and the next year in an Africanus Mosquito. In the early 1950s, Zika antibodies were first found in humans and since have been identified in many different species of animal including monkeys, elephants, lions, zebras and rodents. However, the major hosts to the virus are primates (Encyclopedia Britannica).
The Zika Virus can be transmitted in multiple ways It is first transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, which exist in tropical areas around the world. A pregnant woman can pass the virus to her child and this can cause serious birth defects. The main birth defect is called microcephaly, and it causes the child to have a smaller head and brain than normal. Microcephaly affects about 25,000 children in the U.S. every year, and the outbreak of Zika in Brazil caused the amount of children born with microcephaly to increase by 20%. Zika during pregnancy can also cause stillbirths, miscarriages, problems with vision, hearing, growth and brain development in the baby. However, the virus can also be transmitted through sexual intercourse and oral sex, although one of the participants may not show symptoms (Encyclopedia Britannica & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention & BBC).
Only about 20% of infected people show symptoms and, when symptoms are shown, they include conjunctivitis, a headache, a rash, a low-grade fever and joint and muscle pain. These symptoms can last about 4-7 days, but Zika has also been associated with severe neurological complications including paralysis. Even though many cases do not show symptoms, they can still be transmitted and if a pregnant mother isn’t showing symptoms, she still might transmit the virus to her fetus, causing microcephaly. However, since the virus rarely causes death, people often do not go to the hospital; therefore they do not find out they have Zika. However, if a person thinks they have Zika and goes to see a doctor about it, a urine or blood test can show if the person has been infected or not. Also, a medical professional can provide a diagnosis based on the person’s recent travel history but the blood or urine test is needed for specific results. (Encyclopedia Britannica & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
The symptoms in other animals are very similar to the ones in humans. For this reason, they rarely show symptoms but when they do, they are mainly a mild fever. This mild fever was one of the symptoms the monkey that was first discovered with the virus had. However, microcephaly from animal pregnancies where the mother had Zika have not been reported.
Most cases of Zika can be treated by supportive care like getting lots of rest, drinking lots of fluids, taking medicine like tylenol to reduce pain and fever. However, do not take anti inflammatory drugs. However, there is no vaccine or specific medicine to contradict Zika so the best option for treatment is supportive care. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is doing research to discover a treatment for the virus by using drug compounds and molecules to act against the virus. They are also working to find and approve specific drugs against Zika (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention & The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases).