Zika: Not over yet

A few weeks ago, you couldn’t turn on the news without hearing a story on Zika Virus. While other newsworthy stories have started to take over the news cycle, many in the medical community are keeping their attention focused squarely on this infection. Here’s a short summary of why people shouldn’t be ready to stop talking about Zika quite yet:

  1. An infected person may not even know they’re infected. People very rarely die from Zika. In fact, according to the CDC website, most people don’t even get sick enough to go to the hospital and some won’t show any symptoms at all. This means that these infected people can unknowingly spread the virus.
  2. There is no vaccine. You can’t protect yourself from Zika the same way you would from the flu or chicken pox. The only way to ensure that you won’t get Zika is to avoid being bitten by a mosquito.
  3. It can spread through sexual contact. Zika virus can be spread from a man to his sexual partner. According to the CDC, this is because the virus is present longer in semen than in blood. From the cases of sexual transmission, doctors have learned that the virus can spread through semen before the man has symptoms, while he is displaying symptoms and after symptoms resolve.
  4. Zika affects unborn babies the most. The virus causes birth defects in newborns. The most frequent defect of children born to a mother with the virus is microcephaly. Microcephaly is a condition where a newborn’s head is not as large as it should be because the brain is underdeveloped.
  5. This year’s summer Olympics are in Brazil. Zika spreads to people through the bite of an infected mosquito, and Brazil’s humidity and hot temperatures foster the kind of environment where mosquitos typically thrive.

Is Zika The New Ebola?

Headline after headline, today’s media is filled with Zika, Zika, Zika. People are treating it similarly to Ebola; however, the healthcare community is being more proactive this time. While the Zika virus poses a big risk to developing fetuses, it’s little more than a mild irritation to everyone else.

Here are the facts:

  • Zika has been linked to the birth defect microcephaly, making it a threat to pregnant women.
    • Microcephaly occurs when a person has a brain or head size so small that it prevents proper development.
  • Typically spread through mosquitoes, but can be spread by people – and is sexually transmittable.
  • The symptoms are mild.
    • 80 percent of those infected have no symptoms.
    • If symptoms occur, they are usually a fever and a rash.
    • Other symptoms can be muscle & joint pain, pain behind eyes, headaches and conjunctivitis (pink-eye).
    • Usually lasts two to seven days.
    • Over-the-counter medicine can help relieve some of the symptoms.

A new disease spreading rampant around the world is terrifying, but this disease is essentially harmless to most. If you are pregnant and concerned about contracting the virus, make sure you are wearing a lot of insect repellant. If you’re pregnant, believe you’re at risk and sexually active, make sure your partner is also wearing insect repellent to ensure the pregnancy will go without any additional complications.

Zika isn’t the new Ebola, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be safe if you could be putting someone else at risk.