10 things to know about the Zika virus

Growing evidence suggests that the Zika virus might be linked to neurological syndromes and congenital anomalies in newborn children. The spread of the disease had led some Latin American governments, including Colombia and El Salvador, to advise that women not get pregnant until 2018.

On Feb. 1, 2016, the World Health Organization took the rare step of declaring the spread of the Zika virus an international public health emergency,

Let’s take a look at 10 facts about the disease.


1
Cause

Zika virus disease is caused by a virus that is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. Shown here are the mosquitoes in containers at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of the Sao Paulo University in Brazil.


2
Symptoms

Symptoms of the disease include mild headaches, maculopapular rash, fever, malaise, conjunctivitis, and arthralgia.


3
Countries affected

According to the Pan American Health Organization, the number of countries that have reported transmission of the disease has doubled from Dec. 1, 2015 to Jan. 17, 2016. Countries that have confirmed cases of the disease are Brazil, Barbados, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, Suriname, and Venezuela.

Pictured: Angelica Pereira holds her infant that had been born with a rare condition known as microcephaly in Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, Brazil. It is suspected that Zika virus may have contributed to the condition.


4
Prevention

The best way to prevent the disease is to limit mosquito to human contact.  This means eliminating the mosquitoes where they live and breed. 

Pictured: A Health Ministry employee fumigates a home against the Aedes aegypti mosquito to prevent the spread of the Zika virus in Soyapango, El Salvador, on January 21, 2016.


5
Limit contact

Other ways to limit mosquito to human contact is through the use of insect repellent, sleeping under mosquito netting, and closing doors and windows or using screens in the windows.

Pictured: Army soldiers apply insect repellent as they prepare for a clean up operation against the Aedes aegypti mosquito, in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Jan. 20, 2016.


6
Breeding

Mosquitos breed in water so it is very important to remove or cover buckets of water or anywhere else there might be standing water.

Pictured: Army soldiers check for Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae during a clean-up operation against the insect, in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Jan. 22, 2016.


7
Vaccine status

Currently, this is no treatment or vaccine for the disease.

Pictured: A graduate student works on analyzing samples to identify the Zika virus in a laboratory at the Fiocruz institute in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Jan. 22, 2016.


8
History

The virus was first seen in humans in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania. Outbreaks have been seen around the globe: in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.

Pictured: A health worker fumigates to prevent Dengue, Chikunguya and Zika virus, at El Angel cemetery, in Lima, Peru, on Jan. 20, 2016.


9
Progression

The disease shows symptoms within 2 to 7 days of exposure. A small percentage of those people can develop complications from the virus.

Pictured: A researcher holds a container with female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes at the Biomedical Sciences Institute in the Sao Paulo's University, Brazil, on Jan. 18, 2016.


10
Prenatal care

An alert from the Pan American Health Organization on Jan. 17 suggested that healthcare facilities prepare for more cases of the disease and to strengthen their prenatal care to pregnant women.

Pictured: A pregnant woman waits to be attended at the Maternal and Children's Hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Jan. 21, 2016.

By Nathan Mikeska