Zika Outlook Less Dire as Mosquito-Borne Virus Wanes in Southern Hemisphere Todd Ackerman - Houston Chronicle | |
go to original June 8, 2017 |
Zika virus, long known as a mild, nuisance disease, has blossomed into a global epidemic and found to cause serious birth defects if a pregnant woman is infected. (AP Digital Products)
Zika emerged as a global threat in 2007. It started spreading extensively in 2015 and 2016, reaching at least 80 countries and territories, most in the Southern Hemisphere.
The virus is not considered fatal, but it has been linked to thousands of babies born with microcephaly, a condition in which an infant is born with an abnormally small head and brain, which can result in seizures, developmental delays, intellectual disability, feeding problems and hearing and vision problems. Among pregnant women in the continental United States with a confirmed Zika infection, one in 10 had a baby with such brain damage or other serious birth defects, according to a recent CDC report.
Zika's decreased activity in the Southern Hemisphere was reported in a May 25 update of the Pan American Health Organization. The update shows much less transmission in the Caribbean, the source of last summer's Florida cases; Central America and Mexico; and South America, with the exception of Peru, Ecuador and Argentina, new hotbeds of activity. Puerto Rico declared an end to its Zika outbreak this week, though the move was criticized by some experts as premature, and the CDC still recommends pregnant women not travel there.
Experts attributed such waning to herd immunity that has occurred as so many people in affected countries became infected, then developed immunity to the virus. After outbreaks, herd immunity makes transmission of the virus inefficient.
The experts compare Zika's progress to chikungunya, a virus also transmitted by Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
"Hopefully, we're starting to see the same situation with Zika as chikungunya a few years ago," said Scott Weaver, director of UTMB's Institute for Human Infections and Immunity and chairman of the Global Virus Network's Zika task force. "It burned out as people became immune after infection."
Weaver said he is cautiously optimistic about Zika this summer, though he questioned the reported decline in activity in Mexico. He said there's "very limited surveillance and diagnostic testing going on there."
Read the rest at Houston Chronicle
Related: Discovery of Zika Antibody in Subjects in Mexico Offers Hope for Vaccine (The Rockefeller University)
Related: One in 20 Pregnant Women with Zika Have Babies with Birth Defects (Normangee Star)
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