SPECIAL FEATURE: Zika Fever

Zika fever (also known as Zika virus disease) is an illness caused by the Zika virus. Most cases have no symptoms, but when present they are usually mild and can resemble dengue fever. Symptoms may include fever, red eyes, joint pain, headache, and a maculopapular rash. Symptoms generally last less than seven days. It has not caused any reported deaths during the initial infection. Infection during pregnancy causes microcephaly in some babies. Infections in adults has been linked to Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS). Zika fever is mainly spread via the bite of mosquitoes of the Aedes type. It can also be sexually transmitted from a man to his sex partners and potentially spread by blood transfusions. Infections in pregnant women can be spread to the baby. It is difficult to diagnose Zika virus infection based on clinical signs and symptoms alone due to overlaps with other arboviruses that are endemic to similar areas. Diagnosis is by testing the blood, urine, or saliva for the presence of Zika virus RNA when the person is sick. Zika virus can be identified by reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) in acutely ill patients, which should be done in 1-4days from the onset of first symptoms due to the short period of viremia Prevention involves decreasing mosquitoe bites in areas where the disease occurs and proper use of condoms. Efforts to prevent bites include the use of insect repellent, covering much of the body with clothing, mosquito nets, and getting rid of standing water where mosquitoes reproduce. There is no effective vaccine. Health officials recommended that women in areas affected by the 2015–16 Zika outbreak consider putting off pregnancy and that pregnant women not travel to these areas. While there is no specific treatment, paracetamol (acetaminophen) may help with the symptoms, Aspirin and NSAIDs are contraindicated except when dengue fever is ruled out, to prevent bleeding. Admission to hospital is rarely necessary. There is currently no vaccine to the virus. The virus that causes the disease was first isolated in 1947. The first documented outbreak among people occurred in 2007 in the Federated States of Micronesia. As of January 2016, the disease was occurring in twenty regions of the Americas.[3] It is also known to occur in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. Due to an outbreak which started in Brazil in 2015, the World Health Organization declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in February 2016. Effects of Zika fever in pregnancy The disease spreads from mother-to-child in the womb and can cause multiple problems, most notably microcephaly in the baby. As of April 2016, the full range of birth defects caused by maternal infection was not known, but appear to be common with abnormalities seen on up to 29% of ultrasound. Observed associations include microcephaly, eye abnormalities such as chorioretinal scarring, and hydrops fetalis, where there is abnormal accumulation of fluid in the fetus. It is also not well understood whether the stage of pregnancy at which the mother becomes infected affects the risk to the fetus, nor if other risk factors might exist that affect outcomes. Recent Outbreak As of early 2016, a widespread outbreak of Zika fever, caused by the Zika virus, is ongoing in the Americas and the Pacific. The outbreak began in April 2015 in Brazil, and has spread to other parts of South and North America; it is also affecting several islands in the Pacific. In January 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the virus was likely to spread throughout most of the Americas by the end of the year. In February 2016, WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern as evidence grew that Zika is a cause of birth defects and neurological problems.