As
if travelers didn’t have enough to worry about with mosquitos spreading
diseases like Dengue, Chikungunya, and West Nile, now there’s a new
virus threatening our health: Zika virus.
Mosquitos are one of the deadliest insects on earth. (Photo: James Gathany/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via AP)
The CDC has issued
a travel alert for people traveling to areas where this once rare virus
is now rapidly spreading, and it has advised pregnant women to consider
avoiding these regions altogether, as the evidence grows that Zika can
cause infected pregnant women to have babies born with the severe birth
defects. The countries of concern include: Brazil, Colombia, El
Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico,
Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico.
The
most common symptoms of Zika, a flavivirus related to Dengue, Yellow
Fever, and West Nile, according to Richard Kuhn, Head of Biological
Sciences at Purdue University, include flu-like symptoms (fever, body
aches, headache), as well as rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis.
But
it’s becoming clear that infection in pregnant women is particularly
problematic. Kuhn tell Yahoo Travel that “Once a pregnant woman is
infected, the placenta can also become infected, causing an infection in
the brain of the fetus.” It now appears that this infection can cause
microcephaly, a potentially deadly abnormal underdevelopment of the
brain. “It is still unclear whether there is a particular trimester
during which fetuses are the most vulnerable,” says Kuhn.
At
the moment, there is no vaccine against or cure for Zika, says Kuhn,
but the National Institutes of Health is focusing on the virus for
research and development.
Though
the kind of mosquitos that transmit Zika are found in the southern
U.S., according to Kuhn it is unlikely that Zika will become a big
problem here. Still, “You might see some people bring some imported Zika
back to the U.S.,” says Kuhn.
Zika virus was originally discovered
in Uganda in 1947, and was named after a forest there. It remained an
obscure disease found only in Africa and Asia until a small outbreak in
2007 in Micronesia.
But
in May of last year, perhaps due to Africans traveling to Brazil for
the world cup, according to some experts, the virus appeared and soon
exploded across South American country. Now the Brazilian Ministry of
Health estimates that up to 1.5 million people may be infected.
Amid
the outbreak, Brazilian health officials noticed a spike in
microcephaly, a potentially deadly form of abnormal brain development in
newborns. Experts there say there is strong evidence of a connection to
mothers infected with Zika. In fact, the Ministry has taken the
unprecedented step of advising women in the northeast region of the
country to avoid getting pregnant for the foreseeable future due to the
risk.
Anyone
who has not previously had Zika and is traveling in an area where Zika
is an issue could be at risk. The best way to stay healthy is to avoid
getting mosquito bites in the first place. According to the CDC,
mosquito repellants containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, and oil of
lemon eucalyptus and para-methane-diol offer protection and are safe for
pregnant women.
However,
for pregnant women (or others) who are hesitant to use harsh chemicals
like DEET, here are some tips: If you do use repellant, wash it off as
soon as possible and don’t sleep with the chemicals on your skin.
Wearing long sleeves and pants and then treating these clothes with DEET
can also be effective (but obviously does not protect exposed skin on
the hands, feet, face, and neck). Repellents that contain natural
ingredients like citrus, citronella and chrysanthemum are also safe,
according to FitPregnancy.com, however they are not as effective as the chemical alternatives. (YAHOO NEWS)
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