Outbreak of the Zika virus from the perspective of public health.

Public Health Perspective of the Zika Virus
Introduction
Public health encompasses protecting people and improving the well-being and safety of communities by educating individuals, developing and implementing appropriate policies, and conducting research for injury and disease prevention. However, despite the extensive efforts of government agencies and health organizations to safeguard people, some viral outbreaks, such as the Zika virus, are inevitable. Zika virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that initially identified in 1947 from monkeys in Uganda. The first human cases of infection occurred in 1952 in Tanzania and Uganda. Zika outbreaks inhabit Asia, the Pacific islands, the United States of America (USA), and Africa between the 1860s and 1980s. This viral infection continues to be a menace into modern times. Other places that have been affected by Zika Virus include the Yap Islands in 2007, Brazil in 2015, and French Polynesia in 2013. To date, roughly 86 territories and nations have reported cases of Zika Virus. The Zika virus poses a significant danger to public health, and this paper will focus on the outbreak of Zika virus from that perspective (Singh et al, 2016).
Symptoms of Zika Virus
The flavivirus transmits by Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti species of mosquitoes. The incubation cycle of the Zika virus is between 3-14 days. The symptoms of this disease are mild, and they include headache, fever, joint pain, muscle ache, rash, malaise, and conjunctivitis (WHO, 2018). The majority of people with the virus do not depict any signs. That means these individuals are asymptomatic. Nevertheless, those who do have symptoms, they typically continue for 2 - 7 days. Some countries are considered a high risk of infection compared to other countries. They include Brazil, Tanzania, Uganda, and Puerto Rico. As such, the Zika virus poses an unprecedented problem to public health due to links with a congenital syndrome, which leads to congenital disabilities, such as microcephaly. In particular, microcephaly is an abnormality that causes a baby’s head to be small, which occurs due to incomplete brain development (Ryan et al., 2017). Caribbean countries are disproportionately affected by viruses that are endemic to other regions, such as chikungunya, dengue, and Zika, due to the presence of Aedes mosquitoes. It is advisable for individuals who encounter mild symptoms of the Zika virus to visit hospitals for testing and treatment to prevent further spread of the infection. If infected people fail to get the appropriate treatment, they can pass the disease to others, specifically if they engage in sexual intercourse. Notably, the Zika virus can be transferred through semen, whereby if the female conceives, the baby might develop microcephaly. It is advisable for males in regions affected by the Zika virus to abstain from sex for six months to confirm that they do not carry the flavivirus, hence cannot pass it to unborn babies. 
Zika Virus Transmission, Diagnosis, and Treatment
The most significant trait that makes the Zika virus outbreak a public health issue is that it has no treatment or vaccine. As discussed earlier, individuals with the virus present mild symptoms, such as rash,...