zika virus
Not until its outbreak in May last year in Brazil did the world come to appreciate the danger that Zika virus poses to the world. According to health experts, the Zika virus (ZIKV), is an insect borne virus spread by Aedes(Yellow fever) mosquitoes mostly found in humid and temperate climates of the world. They posit that Zika virus causes mild illness and has been occurring since the 1950s within a narrow equatorial belt from Africa to Asia. Reports say it was first isolated from a rhesus monkey in Uganda in 1947, and caused sporadic human infections in some African and Asian countries, with usually mild symptoms of fever, rash, and arthralgia.
The American Centre for Disease Control has revealed that 1 in 5 people infected with the virus become ill that lasts from few days to weeks.  We are concerned at the outbreak of Zika virus and the consequence of it arriving and spreading in Nigeria. That is why the country’s health authorities must urgently put in place adequate preventive measures to monitor and check spread of the virus.
Our concern is borne by the fact that the World Health Organisation(WHO) has announced that Zika virus “is now spreading explosively” in the Americas, with estimated 3 and 4 million infections over a 12 month period. According to the organisation’s Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, “the   level of concern is high, as is the level of uncertainty”.  Unfortunately, the world is yet to come up  with any known cure for  the virus, even as the mosquitoes that spread it can be found almost everywhere in the Americas.
Given the humid nature of the tropics which is a natural breeding ground for Aedes mosquitoes, and coupled with  the ever increasing  movement  of peoples all over the world, probability is that travellers  with the virus and even carrier mosquitoes may sooner than later arrive in the country.   Such scenario gives room for concern given that half a million people from all over the world are expected to flock into Rio de Janeiro for the summer Olympic Games in August.
Another reason the international community is alarmed, is the danger posed to pregnant women by the Zika virus. Such concern informed the advice by some Latin American governments for women to delay pregnancy in order to prevent birth defects. Recently, the Brazilian Ministry of Health reported a twentyfold annual increase in cases of newborn babies with microcephaly,even as other congenital neurological anomalies and an increased frequency of ‘Guillain-Barré syndrome’ has  also been linked to the  virus. One reason the Nigerian authorities must is be on the alert is that Zika virus is hard to detect unlike the Ebola epidemic that was eradicated before it caused wide scale harm.
Given that an outbreak anywhere is potentially a threat everywhere, now is the time to step up all efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to Zika virus. In the meantime, the best defence is an attempt to eradicate the disease-bearing mosquitoes from around human settlements. We are conscious of the fact  that  it will be   slow, unglamorous and not entirely effective, but it is entirely necessary. Heroic medicine makes better copy, but in the end it is public health which saves more lives.