Four facts about the Zika virus have generated great fear. First, it has spread quickly to wide areas. Second, those infected with the disease often show no symptoms. Third, it has been linked to a surge in cases of microcephaly among new-born children. And finally, fourth, there is no vaccine. That combination is a recipe for concern and near panic in Latin America, where the Zika virus is widespread. Health authorities must move quickly to reassure their troubled publics, spearhead efforts to get a vaccine out and push governments to do more to eliminate the source of the problem. Sadly, this is a likely rehearsal for more such outbreaks.
The Zika virus was discovered in Uganda in 1947, and was subsequently detected in several African and Asian countries. Medical professionals paid little attention to it until an outbreak in 2013 infected about 11 percent of the population of French Polynesia. It is believed that participants at two international sporting events held in Brazil in 2014 introduced the disease to that country; it is reckoned that as many as 1.5 million people there were infected within a year. Once it gained a foothold in Brazil it quickly spread throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The World Health Organization believes Zika is present in 23 countries and has infected as many as 4 million people.
Its spread originally prompted little concern as 80 percent of those infected displayed no symptoms, and when they did surface, the indicators were mild: a light fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, and fatigue that would last from two days to a week. Those symptoms were similar to those of dengue or chikungunya, which are transmitted by the same vector — female mosquitoes.