Even as medical science finds cures to life threatening and intractable diseases, it keeps discovering scary new bugs and infections. Who among us had even heard of chikungunya and that deadly sounding MSRA (methicillin-resistant strains) until some years back? And now there is evidently a new, scary sounding infection on the horizon which could result in birth defects.

What is the Zika Virus and why is it scary?

Birth Defects

Birth Defects

This virus has been known to be a mild illness which was identified in the 1950s and was seen to exist in the narrow equatorial belt from Asia to Africa. It is related to other viruses such as yellow fever, West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis and dengue. Like these other viruses, this is also vector borne and transmitted by blood-sucking arthropods. The disease is are typically mild and self limiting, and usually resolves with rest.  It has no vaccines or prophylactics.

The disease sounds fairly innocuous until the link between this infection and microcephaly of new borns from infected mothers is looked at. Microcephaly (literally means “small headedness”) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that results in babies being born with underdeveloped brains. Babies could have a visibly reduced head size, a receding forehead, slow and impaired intellectual development and even disturbances in motor functions.

The 2015 Zika virus outbreak and microcephaly

Outbreak chart

Outbreak chart

The first confirmed case was in Brazil in May of last year. After that cases were reported from other parts of South America, Europe, the UK, Australia and the United States. The link between the virus and Microcephaly is based on the fact that in Brazil there were 2,782 cases of microcephaly in 2015, compared with 147 in 2014 and 167 in 2013.

In January 2016, a baby with microcephaly was born in the United States. Mother and baby both tested positive for the virus and this is being considered the first case of microcephaly linked to the virus in the US. The CDC has advised people not to travel to places where the Zika virus has been reported from. Agencies in South American countries have even advised women not to get pregnant until more is understood about the link between the virus and birth defects.

We are now being warned by the WHO that Zika virus is likely to spread across the Americas and some have suggested that this is a global threat now. The problem is that humans don’t yet have any natural immunity to the virus.

So should we in India be scared? Not just yet, it would seem. It is possible to prevent Zika fever the same way as we prevent dengue, malaria and other vector borne disease. We are already preventing collection of stale water and preventing mosquito breeding by clearing garbage aren’t we? Or at least we should be!

 

Author: Reena Daruwalla