Zika epidemic one year later: Virus took Caribbean, Americas by surprise – PAHO

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) says the Zika epidemic, a year since being discovered here, has taken the Americas, including the Caribbean, by surprise, adding that it has now become “notorious.”

“It has made headlines in newspapers and television news programs around the world,” said PAHO on the epidemic’s first anniversary on Saturday.

“Researchers on various continents are scrambling to discover more about it. And health authorities in the Americas are struggling to raise awareness of the potentially devastating impact of this new virus – without causing undue alarm.”

PAHO said Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are transmitting Zika virus in 57 countries and territories, 38 of them in the Americas.

Sexual transmission of the virus has been confirmed in 9 countries, and almost 1,300 cases of microcephaly or birth defects have been reported, the vast majority in Brazil.

“Families, communities and entire countries are grappling with the idea of caring for hundreds or even thousands of babies who could become children with very special needs,” said PAHO, adding that 21 countries have reported Zika virus cases in pregnant women.

In February 2015, PAHO said it asked Brazil for information on a cluster of cases of people with rash, fever and pain in the northeast of Brazil.

The results showed 14 cases of dengue, which was circulating in Brazil, but not chikungunya – another recent outbreak.

An early sign came from the Ministry of Health of Brazil, which said on April 29, 2015 that it had noticed more than 6,000 cases of a new, seemingly benign illness characterized by rash in the northeast of the country.

One year ago, on May 7, PAHO issued an Epidemiological Alert for the “Zika virus infection.”

PAHO’s 2015 alert described Zika virus infection and its history dating back to its first isolation in Uganda in 1947, and then noted that “the broad distribution of the vector in the Americas combined with the high mobility of persons in and outside of this region and worldwide, represent a risk for the spread of Zika virus in the Americas.”

The 8-page alert outlined the situation, detailed the way Zika virus is transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitos, and issued detailed steps countries should take for surveillance, laboratory detection, and case management. On February 1, 2015, the WHO Director-General declared the presence of Zika a “public health emergency of international concern”.

However, PAHO said another surprise was “in the wings.” On February 5, PAHO said the Atlanta, Georgia-based United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a laboratory confirmed case of sexually transmitted Zika virus.

“Today, one year after the first alert, researchers are still scrambling to understand how a new virus could cause such severe damage in newborns in some areas but not others,” PAHO said. “They have learned an extraordinary amount but still have far to go,” added PAHO, stating that Cohort studies, case control studies and other research is proceeding at a “rapid pace, as health authorities brace to tackle any new surprises Zika could bring in the coming months.”

Meanwhile, PAHO said publishers of medical textbooks are rewriting their chapters on arbo-viruses to take account of the surprises the Zika virus outbreak in the Americas brought into the world. -(CMC)