Posting Assignment: The Outbreak of Zika Virus

The Outbreak of Zika Virus
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Outbreak of Zika Virus
Zika Virus is a flavivirus transmitted by mosquitoes and was first noticed between 1947 and 1952 in the East African countries; Uganda and Tanzania in Monkeys during a yellow fever survey (World Health Organization, 2016). The outbreak of the disease in humans has been recorded in various regions of the world that include Asia Pacific, Africa and some regions in America, with common infections occurring between 1960 and the 1980s. The island of Yap recorded the highest outbreak in the year 2007. In 2015, Brazil recorded a relationship between Zika virus infections and Microcephaly, and later an association with Guillain-Barre syndrome (BBC News, 2016). Only one in five people infected with the virus become symptomatic, with symptoms being mild in most cases, thus making it hard to determine a clear incidence of the viral infections (Pan American Health Organization, 2015). By November 2015, it was estimated that 100 in every 100, 000 births characterized with Microcephaly was attributed to Zika infections, which is an increase of over twenty percent compared to five in a hundred thousand in 2010. About seventy-five countries in the world have been linked with the transmission of the Zika virus, with downward trends recorded in Mexico and an expansion trend realized in the United States (World Health Organization, 2016). Other regions also have diverse demographics of the disease infections.
Zika Virus is an emerging public health situation due to the complications associated with the infection. Infections of the virus during pregnancy has been realized to cause congenital brain abnormalities that include microcephaly, where the infant's brain develops at a slower rate than expected, leaving a space in the skull. Also, the virus triggers the Guillain-Barre syndrome, which has prompted researchers to investigate the relationship between the Zika virus and various neurological disorders (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). Due to the seasonality of infections transmitted by mosquitoes in the different regions of America, Zika virus transmission has continually declined, while countries in the Caribbean region have reported increasing trends. The disease is prevalent in ...