This preceding year , the Zika virus has egress as global problem .
The virus , which is primarily transfer via mosquito , has been spread around the Americas since May 2015 . One of the understanding it ’s been so troubling is that it ’s a cause of a serious birth mar called microcephaly , in which the head word of babies whose mothers have been infected with Zika during maternity are abnormally small . That ’s tied to a number of developmental problems .
As with many emerging diseases , the misinformation about Zika started circulating almost as chop-chop as the disease itself .
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are seen inside Oxitec laboratory in Campinas, Brazil.Thomson Reuters
We ’re still learning more and more about the virus and how it affects people , but for now here are some of the biggest myths and misconception we ’ve heard about Zika .
disease like Zika , dengue , and yellow fever are overspread by a mosquito calledAedes aegypti . To try and block off the counterpane of disease , scientists have started looking into how to quell mosquito populations .
One interesting estimation to fend off the disease - carrying bugs comes from a party called Oxitec , which genetically modifies male person mosquitoes to stock a lethal gene . Those bugs mate with female mosquito and evanesce on the cistron , which kills little baby mosquitoes before they ever maturate into adults . As the modify bugs engender more and more , the mosquito population shrinks overall .
A health worker fumigates as part of preventive measures against the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases, at the cemetery of Presbitero Maestro in LimaThomson Reuters
But , because the mosquitoes were put into action in 2015 , right around the time Zika started hitting the Americas , some folks leap out to the conclusionthat the two event were linked . That ’s in nastiness of the fact that therehas been no evidenceof this whatsoever . Snopes pointed toa single comment on a sub - reddit fitly called " confederacy " as the origin of this perniciousrumor . ( Zika itself wasfirst describe in 1947 . )
If anything , genetically modify mosquito will in reality aid usprevent Zika from spreadingby reducing the number of mosquito aviate around .
While there have been cases of sexually transmitted Zika , both frommale to female , male to male person , and female to male , for the most part it is still spread by mosquito , who foot it up from the descent of one mortal and channel it to another .
A health worker fumigates as part of preventive measures against the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases, at the cemetery of Presbitero Maestro in LimaThomson Reuters
" It ’s a disease transmitted through sex , but certainly at this distributor point we would n’t bear it to say it ’s a sexually transmitted disease,“Dr . Robert Segaltold Business Insider during aFacebook Live session .
So far , public health officials believethe master waysit could be transmitted are through line of descent ( either mosquito or possibly bloodline blood transfusion ) , semen or vaginal fluid , or while a mother is meaning .
The virus has beendetected in piss and saliva , but the CDCsaysthere is " no evidence " it can be passed along via kissing . female parent have also beenencouraged to keep breastfeeding , as there have n’t been any reported cases of breast Milk River transmitting Zika .
A pregnant woman looks on as mosquito nets are used at the Women National Hospital in an effort to prevent being bitten by mosquitoes that might carry Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya viruses, in San Salvador, El Salvador.Reuters/Jose Cabezas
Another conspiracy theory about the most late Zika irruption hit theinternet in February . It claimed that a pesticide being used to pour down mosquito was tie to the cases of microcephaly , notthe Zika computer virus itself .
The chemical , Pyriproxyfen , messes with the hormones that assist mosquito larvae hatching ( an substitution that does n’t happen in human births ) . Plus , it does n’t engross into our bodies that well . " A person would have to drink well over 1,000 litre of water a day , every day , to attain the threshold toxicity levels seen in animals , " Ian Musgrave , a aged lecturer in the aesculapian schooltime at the University of Adelaide in Australia , said in February .
The CDC saidin April that Zika is formally a cause of microcephaly .
A nurse prepares a vaccine to be given to a child.Thomson Reuters
It ’s true that Zika and the influenza share some similar symptoms , namely fever and brawniness / joint bother . But there are some decipherable differences , as explained by the World Health Organization . Namely , in most people , Zika symptom will be nonexistant or much milder than a run - of - the - manufactory grippe .
From the WHO ( emphasis ours ):
" Seasonal flu can make severe malady or expiry . The disease is characterise by asudden onset of high fever , cough ( unremarkably teetotal , can be severe ) , concern , muscle and joint pain , severe unease ( feeling unwell ) , sore pharynx and runny nose .
" Zika virus disease usually causesmild illness , and most masses will not evolve any symptoms . Themost vulgar symptom of Zika include low-toned febricity or rash , conjunctivitis , muscleman and joint infliction , come along a few days after a soul has been taint by an septic mosquito or after sexual intercourse with an septic individual . However , there is scientific consensus that Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly and Guillain - Barré syndrome which can be a fateful consideration . "
As masses endeavor to pin the nativity defects consort with the current eruption of Zika on something , the possibility that vaccine given to mother during maternity could act a role in the birth defects that are linked with Zika . But that ’s been refuted .
" There is no evidence link up any vaccinum to the increases in microcephaly cases that were observed first in French Polynesia during the 2013 - 2014 outbreak and more latterly in northeastern Brazil , " the WHOsaid in a instruction . “An broad brushup of the lit print in 2014 found no evidence that any vaccine administer during pregnancy leave in nascence mar . "
There ’s still a lot that we still need to figure out about Zika .
It ’s a virus that ’s been around since 1947 , but the strain associated with the most late irruption and the one before that in French Polynesia are the first to be connected to birth defect and other serious complications includingGuillain - Barre Syndrome .
We ’re still learning more each week about what thebirth defects associated with the computer virus looks like , andhow long it stays in man . Development of a Zika vaccine is still ongoing ( despite the effort running low on funds ) .
Zika remains widespread in many South and primal American nation , and the virus iscurrently being locally channel in a neighbourhood in Miami . The CDC has tallied16 baby comport in the US with birth fault .
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