There had been only 14 noted cases of Zika Virus till 2007. Not a lot of people had heard of it, until 2015, when a massive outbreak occurred in Brazil that affected more than 1 million people.Scientists didn’t seem to take the effects of this deadly virus until World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a public health emergency on 1 Feb. It said Zika virus could do a lot more harm than estimated, damaging the brains of babies at initial foetal stage and causing lifelong cognitive problems.
Very recently a pregnant woman has been diagnosed with this virus in Spain, which is the first case in Europe. We are told the woman has recently returned from Columbia, where she might have gotten infected. The WHO has advised countries not to accept donations from donors who have recently traveled virus infected countries, and those are more than 20 countries according to our estimation.
Zika virus is difficult to track because the symptoms are almost untraceable, most people who are affected don;t even realize it. They, however, can transmit it, through blood and sexual intercourse. That is why we are scared of mosquitoes even more now, virus’ easiest carrier is mosquito.
Should India be worried of this? Yes, given the history of Zika Virus in the South-eastern Asia, we should be slightly worried. But we hear an Indian biotech company called Bharat Biotech has been developing a vaccine for this since November 2014. Although we are not clear when (and if) these vaccines will reach market (since the animal testing alone takes about five months, followed by human testing), we feel better to hear that somebody’s working on the cure.
So, for now, there is no vaccine or cure as such. But one can always take care of themselves.
Here’s a few things you should do if you are infected (or just sick):
- treat the symptoms, get rest, drink a lot of fluids
- Take medicine such as acetaminophen (Tylenol®) to relieve fever and pain.
- Do not take aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
- If you are taking medicine for another medical condition, talk to your healthcare provider before taking additional medication.
- AVOID MOSQUITOES
- Take care 🙂
Image credits:
CDC
Telegraph
