Should Lankans worry about Zika?

by Carol Aloysius

Regular fumigation efforts are undertaken in the US to fight Zika (.ticotimes.net)

As the Zika virus spreads its tentacles in the Latin Americas and African countries, speculation on how it impacts on human health has given rise to fresh fears. The announcement by the World Health Organisation (WHO)early this week, did nothing to allay those fears. The WHO on January 29 declared Zika to be a public health emergency of international concern.

The global organisation maintained that the virus which caused mild fever, rashes, red eyes and joint pains was less serious than dengue fever, especially in its more serious form, the dengue hemorrhagic fever.

However its concerns were not about the virus itself, but a link which if proven right – could have horrifying impacts on children born to pregnant women infected by the disease.

WHO Emergency Committee Chair, David Heymann, told a media conference in Geneva: “Zika alone would not be a public health emergency of international concern. It’s only because of the association with microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome, it becomes one.”

Claims that the mosquito- spread Zika virus was linked to the paralyzing neurological condition, Guillain Barre Syndrome and microcephaly, which caused babies of infected pregnant women, to be born with severely shrunken and deformed heads and brains led health experts to take a closer look at possible impacts. A technical committee was set up for the purpose.

WHO Director-General, Margaret Chan at a media conference was quoted as saying: ““Experts agreed that a causal relationship between Zika infection during pregnancy and microcephaly is strongly suspected, though not yet scientifically proven. All agreed on the urgent need to coordinate international efforts to investigate and understand this relationship better.”

25 countries

To address the spread of Zika, which has now reached 25 countries and territories in the Western Hemisphere since 2015, the WHO has called for more surveillance on microcephaly cases and the viral outbreak, a boost in mosquito population control efforts, and concerted research to study the virus’ role in the conditions and the development of a vaccine against the virus.

It is learned that India has already started testing for the virus among its 1.3 billion population.

Meanwhile, WHO Country Representative to Sri Lanka, Dr. Jacob Kumaresan told the Sunday Observer that Zika was a mild disease and advised the public not to panic.

“We have to be vigilant, now that there is a very strong link, especially with microcephaly and the viral outbreak, well-documented in Brazil. It is reported that the virus has spread now to 25 countries,” he said. He cautiously adding, “The causative link has yet to be proved. It will take a lot of research studies and a long time to establish that.”

He said Sri Lanka was also monitoring the situation and added: “In an emergency, the National Institute of Virology in India is also ready to help in testing the virus.

“The Medical Research Institute (MRI) will be receiving the necessary kits this week.”

So far, the WHO has not imposed any travel restrictions but request travellers to take necessary precautions, including wearing long- sleeved clothes, carrying insect repellents, sleeping under mosquito nets, staying away from people with obvious symptoms and crowded places.

Responding to the WHO call, Epidemiology Unit (EPU)Dr. Paba Pallihawadana said the outbreak is not considered a risk to Sri Lanka’s general population because Zika is a mild disease with less dangerous impacts than dengue. “The only way it can be transmitted locally is when a non-infected person is bitten by a mosquito infected by a blood feed on someone who has returned to Sri Lanka from an infected country,” she said.

“There is no need for the public to panic. It is a mild disease, which will last for 2-5 days. If there is an emergency situation, we can handle it.”

As for the suggested possibility of a neurological disorder or deformity in children born to Zika-infected women, the EPU has begun awareness raising initiatives. “We intend advising pregnant women wanting to visit countries affected by Zika, to postpone visits until they give birth.”

Admiting the EPU is not carrying out any screening on travelllers arriving in Colombo, Dr. Palihawadana said, so far it has not received any directives from the WHO.

“The new service we have started is to provide all international visitors with supportive information. We now have a leaflet containing vital information.”

Voluntary screening

The screening is entirely voluntary, explained Deputy Director General, Public Health, Dr. Sarath Amunugama. “We are not forcing people to be screened, as Zika is not a deadly communicable disease.

If someone comes from an affected country and develops symptoms such as fever, rash, red eyes, pain around eyes and joint pains, within two weeks of arrival, they are strongly advised to see the nearest MOH hospital.”

He said panels prepared by the Quarantine Division of the Health Ministry were being set up in all three languages at the arrival site of the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA.)

Director, Quarantine ( Human), Dr. Dr Palitha Karunatena said: “The panels will advise those who have visited any Latin American or African country, to visit our Health Desk, if they experienced symptoms within a period of two weeks. The Health Desk will then obtain their medical history and refer them for testing and diagnosis.”

Meanwhile, top US health authorities have confirmed last week that the Zika virus had been transmitted sexually in Texas, fuelling further fears of the mode of transmission. 

Health authorities have agreed that sexual transmission would complicate matters. Peter Horby, Professor, Emerging Infectious Diseases and Global Health, Oxford University, states it raised questions such as, “Is there a risk of sexual transmission from people who had asymptomatic infection? For how long can the sperm be infectious?”

[GM mosquitoes to fight Zika]

cameronwebb.files

The release of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes whose offspring die before they become mature adults has slashed numbers of the insects in a Brazilian city in a state troubled by Zika fever.

Several million of the ‘friendly Aedes aegypti’ mosquito were released in a district of Piracicaba, in Sao Paulo state, in April 2015. By the end of the year, mosquito numbers in the area had plummeted by 82 per cent, according to Oxitec, the company that ‘developed’ the mosquito.

The firm announced this month that it will work with Piracicaba Municipality to build a local production facility that will continuously rear the GM mosquito for release.

This could protect up to 300,000 people — the whole city — from mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika, dengue fever and chikungunya, according to Oxitec Chief Executive Officer, Hadyn Parry.

Glen Slade, Head of Business Development at Oxitec Brazil, tellsSciDev.Net: “The GM mosquito does not perpetuate in nature: It dies two to four days after being released.”

The Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads Zika fever is not native to Brazil, but was imported through international travel.

Slade says that the GM mosquitoes could be combined with traditional strategies, such as destroying breeding sites and using insecticides, to eradicate the species from the country.

The use of the GM mosquito was approved in Brazil in 2014 after the national regulator for transgenic organisms decided the insects did not pose a significant risk to humans or the environment.

The Piracicaba project is receiving a lot of government attention as Latin America is trying to get on top of Zika fever, which was introduced to Brazil in 2014 and has now spread to 21 countries in the region.

Zika has been blamed for causing brain damage in babies whose mothers catch the disease while pregnant.

On 25 January, the World Health Organization announced that Zika could infect all South American countries, while El Salvador Government warned women wanting to get pregnant to wait until 2018 to avoid infecting their unborn children.

Apart from Zika, Brazil is also plagued by dengue fever, which is why Piracicaba’s health authorities are working closely with Oxitec on the project. Pedro Mello, the city’s Secretary of Health, says the district saw 133 cases of dengue fever in 2014/15.

“But in 2015/16, after the beginning of the Friendly Aedes aegypti project, we had only one 0case,” he says.

- SciDevNet