Zika Virus: What you need to know

NAIROBI: Over the last few days I received many calls from people concerned about the Zika virus.

There are no reported cases in Kenya but relevant authorities have enhanced surveillance and sharing information with global agencies.

Zika virus is an emerging mosquito-borne virus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys. It was subsequently identified in humans in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania. Outbreaks of Zika virus disease have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.

The virus is spread through mosquito bites and its most common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalisation is uncommon while deaths are rare.

A blood sample is needed to make diagnosis of the disease which does not, as yet, have specific treatment or vaccine. The best form of prevention is protection against mosquito bites, specifically the Aedes variety which carries the offending virus.

In May 2015, the Pan American Health Organisation issued an alert regarding the first confirmed Zika virus infection in Brazil. The outbreak in Brazil led to reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome and pregnant women giving birth to babies with birth defects and poor pregnancy outcomes.

The World Health Organisation has warned that Zika virus is “spreading explosively” in the Americas and that as many as four million people could be infected by end of the year. Officials at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have urged pregnant women against travel to about two dozen countries, mostly in the Caribbean and Latin America, where the outbreak is growing.

The infection appears to be linked to the development of unusually small heads and brain damage in newborns and as such, pregnant women who have been to these regions should be tested for the infection as soon as possible.