Infectious Disease Back

Zooming Zika

Dengue, Chikungunya and now Zika. A disease spreading wide has become a usual practice nowadays especially in developing countries like Asia, South America and Africa are prone for disease outbreaks. Now the outbreak of Zika is becoming a worldwide threat and a sizable number of countries are expected to be affected due to it. India has also made up to that list. What is Zika? Are we Indians prone to Zika Virus? As it is being a new virus outbreak, there isn’t a medicine immediately to cure it. An Indian pharma company has come up with a vaccine, which is yet to get a regulatory nod and commercial availability will take quite sometime. Zika Virus is usually transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, which has a strong presence in tropical region.  There were also cases where sexual transmission of the same was also seen. In America especially, numerous cases of sexual transmission were reported. Recently, sexual contact with a Zika infected person had transmitted the disease to the other one. Another source of transmission was through pregnant women to their new born, which in turn leads to Microcephaly. This occurs when a pregnant woman develops Zika Fever in the course of pregnancy. 

The legend of Zika 
If you feel Zika came from nowhere and was known only in 2015, you’re wrong. Zika’s presence was first felt in April 1947, when a caged Rhesus Macaque Monkey in the Zika Forest of Uganda. The monkey developed Fever unusually, researchers then discovered a Serum, which was nothing but the Virus. Later in 1952, it was described as Zika Virus, as it originated from the Zika Forest. 

The first isolation of Zika was found in 1954, when a team of researchers conducted a serosurvey on 84 individuals in Uganda and Nigeria. Out of the 84, 50 of all ages proved to have antibodies in them. Even in 1952, a significant number of Indians tested positive for Zika. Then in the period between 1951-1981 Equitorial African countries like Central African Republic, Egypt, Gabon, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda as well as Asian countries like India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam were also prone for Zika infections. Until then, there wasn’t a major outbreak of Zika.  But the first outbreak was reported in 2007. 

The Yap islands, which is a part of the Federated States of Micronesia in the Pacific Ocean first reported Zika outbreak. Some patients had rashes, arthralgia and conjunctivitis, which was initially declared to be Chikungunya/Dengue. There 49 confirmed and 59 unconfirmed cases. Luckily no deaths were reported.

Since April 2015, the South, Central American and Caribbean countries have been largely reporting cases of Zika. Since then various countries have asked their citizens not to travel to these places for a short period. Even the 2016 Summer Olympic Games to be held at Rio de Janeiro have been called off. 

In the period between October 2015 and January 2016, the Brazilian Health authorities have reported 3500 cases of Microcephaly and even some infant deaths were reported. Now at least one percent of newborn in Brazil is believed to microcephalic. 

Zika reaching India?
In a country like India, any disease can catch up quite easily. Also India being a tropical country like South American counterparts, presence of the Aedes mosquito is predominant. These were responsible for spreading Dengue and Chikungunya earlier.  

Anyhow, the country hasn’t reported any cases of Zika so far. But the prevalence of Dengue and Chikungunya poses a threat for the country. The symptoms of Zika are similar to these two. If at all it strikes India, there would be a lot of confusion on differentiating these three diseases.In order to prevent Zika, the Union Health Ministry has deferred people travelling to South American as well as Caribbean countries and also the other places affected due to Zika. World Health Organization has said that over four million people in 23 countries have been affected so far. 

Preventive Measures
As on date, there isn’t any vaccine for curing Zika. As the symptoms are similar to Dengue and Chikungunya, approach a doctor next to you if you feel the same. Symptoms include fever, rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle pain, headache and joint pain. The Aedes mosquito usually bites during the day time. Anyhow, this is not a deadly disease that would cause deaths. Illness is mild and the symptoms could be for some couple of weeks. The Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech has developed Zikavac for which it has filed for a patent. The company has said that it can make it available for inactivated vaccine if the government could fast-track the regulatory approvals. Including clinical trials, a normal vaccine would take seven years normally. So the vaccine will not be available so soon to treat patients. Hence prevention is the only option to zoom-out Zika as of now.