THIS is the season of fevers. The menace of fevers is rocking the world. True, yellow fever is no longer a global threat, but malaria fever is still with us while typhoid fever remains on the prowl . Sierra Leone is still at alert for Ebola fever and Saudi Arabia is wary of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome a.k.a MERS – a viral respiratory illness that is relatively new to humans. Most people infected with MERS-CoV developed severe acute respiratory illness, including fever, cough, and shortness of breathe. It was first reported three years ago and the Saudi government is “very keen” on finding a vaccine since there is pressing need to control the spread of the MERS virus. The Lassa fever epidemic, currently running around in Nigeria, also comes to mind. Nigerians are not at ease because there is no vaccine against the disease at the moment; and no experimental vaccine has completely protected non-human primates against a lethal challenge. But right now, the world is not much bothered by MERS, Lassa fever or even Ebola, The world’s latest health scare is a seemingly minor illness that carries a killer wrapped inside – Zika, the mosquito-borne virus that is sweeping across Latin America in the form of a tropical fever, linked to neurological problems and a surge in microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with abnormally small heads. The defect can cause brain damage and death. The outbreak of Zika virus has led authorities in some countries to urge couples not to get pregnant, while the US Centers for Disease Control, CDC, has warned pregnant women to avoid traveling to at least 25 affected countries. On February 1, 2016, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Zika virus a public health emergency of international concern. Following an Emergency Committee Meeting on Zika virus, convened under the International Health Regulations, 18 experts and advisers looked, in particular, at the strong association, in time and place, between infection with the Zika virus and a rise in detected cases of congenital malformations and neurological complications. The experts agreed that a causal relationship between Zika infection during pregnancy and microcephaly is strongly suspected, though not yet scientifically proven, but all agreed on the urgent need to coordinate international efforts to investigate and understand this relationship better. The experts also considered patterns of recent spread and the broad geographical distribution of mosquito species that can transmit the virus. The lack of vaccines and rapid and reliable diagnostic tests, and the absence of population immunity in newly affected countries were cited as further causes for concern. After a review of the evidence, the Committee advised that the recent cluster of microcephaly cases and other neurological disorders reported in Brazil, following a similar cluster in French Polynesia in 2014, constituted an “extraordinary event” and a public health threat to other parts of the world. Director General, WHO, Dr Margaret Chan, in a statement, afterwards, said: “I am now declaring that the recent cluster of microcephaly cases and other neurological disorders reported in Brazil, following a similar cluster in French Polynesia in 2014, constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Chan said a coordinated international response is needed to improve surveillance, the detection of infections, congenital malformations, and neurological complications, to intensify the control of mosquito populations, and to expedite the development of diagnostic tests and vaccines to protect people at risk, especially during pregnancy. Although the Committee found no public health justification for restrictions on travel or trade to prevent the spread of Zika virus, it noted that, at present, the most important protective measures are the control of mosquito populations and the prevention of mosquito bites in at-risk individuals, especially pregnant women. The virus What’s Zika? This is probably the million-dollar question. Sunday Vanguard investigations revealed that the virus was first identified in a rhesus monkey specie in Africa in 1947. WHO confirmed that Zika is actually named after a forest in Uganda where the first infected rhesus monkeys were found. The virus then “jumped”, over time, to humans in Uganda and Tanzania in East Africa. Hospital information says most of the time, Zika disease infection goes unnoticed. The symptoms are like a mild case of the flu — headache, muscle and joint pain, and mild fever — plus a rash and usually last two to seven days. Zika is linked to two serious complications: Neurological problems and birth defects in babies born to infected women. The main neurological complication is Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disorder in which the immune system attacks the nervous system, causing weakness and sometimes paralysis. Most patients recover, but the syndrome is sometimes deadly. Cases linked to Zika were first reported in Brazil and French Polynesia. Microcephaly and other brain deformities in newborns have also been reported, particularly in Brazil. Since the Zika outbreak began, last year, microcephaly cases have surged. With no vaccine, or specific treatment, Zika has become a potential death sentence overnight.
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