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It has no vaccine and no cure. And with three to four million persons at risk of contracting the virulent Zika virus, global health experts hold an emergency meeting tomorrow, after reports suggest it could spread ‘explosively’.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) director general Margaret Chan will meet the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee on Zika virus to discuss the potential connection of the virus and the observed rise in nerve disorders and defects among newborns.
In Brazil, about 4,200 babies have been born with smaller heads than normal, with varying extents of brain damage, a health condition known as microcephaly.
Dr Ian Njeru, Head of Disease Surveillance and Response at the Ministry of Health said a health alert was issued a fortnight ago to health workers at the various points of entry to look out for persons with symptoms that could be associated with Zika Virus.
“We are screening passengers from the Americas even those with low grade fever to check whether they had been exposed to the virus that also presents with a small rash and redness of eyes,” Dr Njeru said.
He said the virus has no treatment or vaccine and presents a unique challenge especially to pregnant mothers. However, supportive treatment is offered to treat the symptoms. “We have heightened surveillance at the health worker and laboratories levels, but we are not worried about Zika virus,” he added.
According to Dr Chan, WHO is also concerned about potential of international spread given wide geographical distribution of the mosquito, the lack of immunity in newly affected areas and absence of vaccines, specific treatments and rapid diagnostic tests for the virus.
“Last year, the disease was detected in the Americas, where it is spreading explosively,” she said at a special briefing in Geneva.
Known as Zika virus and spread by the Aedes mosquito, the first case in the recent epidemic was reported in Brazil in May 2015, a country that has been mapped by disease surveillance experts as the epicentre of the current outbreak. The meeting to be held tomorrow is set to discuss whether the virus should be treated as a global emergency, with the last state of urgency being during the recent Ebola Outbreak in West Africa where about 11,000 persons died.
“The aim has been to ensure accurate clinical diagnosis and treatment for patients, to track the spread of the virus and the mosquito that carries it, and to promote prevention, especially through mosquito control,” read excerpts of the WHO advisory.
In Brazil, health authorities asked women to delay pregnancies in the next two years until the possible connection with the birth defects is established and mitigation measures placed for treatment and management. However in Mexico, Deputy Minister for Prevention and Health Promotion Pablo Kuri had said there was no justification in telling women to avoid getting pregnant.
As the tussle on shelving conception continues, the 22 affected countries have been receiving support from WHO to strengthen their abilities to detect the arrival and circulation of the virus through laboratory testing and rapid reporting. Individuals in these countries and neighbouring ones have also been asked to protect themselves from mosquito bites by using insect repellent, wearing light-coloured and long-sleeved clothes, using physical barriers such as screens, closed doors and windows and sleeping under mosquito nets. In the last one week, scientists described the spread of the mosquito-borne virus as having ‘explosive pandemic potential,’ with the prospect of a vaccine estimated to be about a decade away.
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