First there was malaria, then
yellow fever, then dengue (see my post of 31 July 2013), then it was
chikungunya (see my post of 21 May 2014), now it is zika – all of them spread
by mosquitoes. In the case of zika, now moving through Latin America and the
Caribbean, it is the same mosquito (see picture) that spreads dengue and yellow fever.
If a pregnant woman is infected with zika, it
is believed the virus can cause her baby to have an abnormally small head – a condition
known as
microcephaly, which is often caused by the failure
of the brain to develop at its usual speed. Nearly 4,000 such babies have been
born in Brazil since October, and 49 have died.
A number of countries including Colombia,
Ecuador, El Salvador and Jamaica, have advised women to delay becoming pregnant
until more is known about the disease, which was first identified in Africa in
the 1940s. Some believe it was introduced to Brazil during the World Cup in
2014.
There is no known cure for zika, and the only way to prevent
it is to avoid being bitten by the mosquitoes that carry it. In Brazil, they
are working to clear stagnant water where the insects breed.
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