The WHO has recently declared a global public health emergency as Zika continues to spread worldwide, the outbreak which started in Brazil now affecting more than twenty other countries and possibly 1.5 million people. Although Zika is not usually fatal or even harmful in most cases, with only one-in-five experiencing any symptoms at all, ranging from headaches or mild fevers to rashes or joint pain, the virus is thought to be linked to both microcephaly and Gullain-Barr syndrome. Brazil itself faces a pandemic due to the outbreak of the virus which is thought to have caused the 4,700 cases of microcephaly reported there since October, a staggering number compared to the mere 150 cases reported in the previous year.
Microcephaly causes babies to be born with below-average head size and brains which don’t grow at the normal rate, a condition which already affects 25,000 children in the US. The condition can be fatal and causes delayed development and intellectual disabilities. It is known to be caused by infections such as Rubella, substance abuse during pregnancy or genetic abnormalities (the Guardian) – but the massive increase in Brazil and other South American countries has been attributed to Zika. Much discussion has been generated over the questions still concerning this huge surge in the number of cases of microcephaly and the difficulties of stopping the spread of Zika, the threat the virus poses to the 2016 Olympic Games and even the fact that President Obama plans to visit both Cuba and Peru this year, two countries in which Zika will be endemic in a few months according to scientists. Colombia, which has not yet seen an increase in cases of microcephaly but has experienced the outbreak of Zika is also a focus of concern, for the disparity between the impact of Zika there and in Brazil as well as for the many pregnant women who are being encouraged to have abortions in case their babies are born with microcephaly. All these issues are hugely important and must be understood, in order to comprehend the enormous impact Zika can have on a country and possible solutions to these problems.
But there is another issue we should be looking at – how to support parents and their children who are affected by the Zika virus worldwide. These parents need information about microcephaly and how it could affect their children as well as the options open to them. Ana Carolina Careces, a journalist who has microcephaly herself, has written about the importance of putting prejudice aside, ignoring the scaremongering tactics of people such as the Brazilian minister of health who has warned of a ‘damaged generation’ and realizing that ‘microcephaly is an ugly name but it is not an evil monster’. Microcephaly of course does not mean an easy life, and Careces herself calls herself one of the ‘lucky ones’. But it is a disability like any other and the children who are affected with it should not have to grow up in a world that sees them as irretrievably damaged, even as the world continues to try and fight the Zika virus to stop more cases of microcephaly. Scientists have developed a testing kit to quickly identify carriers of the Zika virus, while money – Obama planning to pledge $1.8 billion to fight Zika – is being fuelled into finding a vaccine. Another potential solution is the genetically modified mosquito developed by scientists that could reduce the mosquito population by 99%.
Zika originated in 1947 in Uganda, “the world capital of viruses” and is spread by the mosquito Aedes Africanus and the Aedes Aegypti, the latter responsible for the transmission of Zika in Brazil. Scientists warn that the encroachment of humans into forests may disrupt the normal behaviour of mosquitoes, resulting in increased transmission of disease. Uganda itself has not seen any cases of microcephaly so far, but it has been questioned whether we would see the same worldwide response to an outbreak there, in a country which itself “mostly shrugged” at the outbreak (Mukwaya); malaria is currently epidemic in the north of the country and 1.5 million Ugandans have HIV, thousands suffering from Hepatitis B, Ebola or Marburg.
It is now just as important to work towards helping those affected by Zika as by Ebola as it will become just as widespread, according to WHO, a statement that reveals the enormity of the problem and the extent of the danger posed to families worldwide.
