Brazilian officials have stepped up efforts to battle the rapid spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus linked to the alarming surge infants born with serious brain damages.
Roughly 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly have been reported in Brazil since October, compared with the 150 cases reported in all of 2014.
In Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco alone, 1,000 babies were born with smaller-than-usual brains according to health officials.
One of them was Gleyse Kelly’s 3-month-old daughter, who was diagnosed with the serious deformation after Kelly was infected with Zika during the first months of pregnancy.
Kelly said she had received full support from a local public hospital and was taught methods of early stimulation that could help her baby’s development process.
“The sooner we initiate stimulations (stimulation therapy on the infant), the better — which is what they call premature stimulation. But we don’t know what her process will be like, how she will develop,” she said.
Because there is little scientific data on Zika, it is unclear why it might be causing microcephaly in Brazil.
Recife’s public hospitals are packed with pregnant women who fear their babies may have an underdeveloped brain. Others are taking they new-borns to have their heads measured by doctors.
Individuals affected with the rare neurological disorder usually suffer from intellectual impairment, difficulties with motor functions and a series of other potential health complications.
Maria Angela Rocha, a pediatrician and expert in infectious diseases, said Brazil’s public health system would need to be prepared to offer long-term support these microcephalic children.
“The biggest challenge facing our public health system is offering constant assistance to these children in the long-term, so that they are able to have the best possible development with their condition through premature stimulation. This will be a great challenge for us — for the experts and for the public health system because the public hospitals will have to plan and be prepared to handle this,” she said.
An estimated 80 percent of people who have the virus have no symptoms, making it difficult for pregnant women to know whether they have been infected. There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya.
The clinical symptoms of Zika are usually mild and often similar to dengue, a fever which is transmitted by the same Aedes aegypti mosquito, leading to fears that Zika will spread into all parts of the world where dengue is commonplace.
Recife’s Health Secretary Jailson de Barros Correia said extensive research was being conducted on mothers and new-borns to evaluate how Zika may be causing microcephaly.
Correia said the public health system was focusing on prevention by preventing mosquito reproduction.
“Technically we say that the pathogenicity of the virus in the brain tissues may be the irrefutable proof (of the connection between Zika and microcephaly), but all evidence is showing that connection. And of course, the public health’s response to that must be very strongly oriented towards controlling the mosquito,” he said.
As part of the city’s actions to combat the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, several slums and other poor communities considered high-risk areas are being fumigated since the beginning of the year.
Local officials have also launched a campaign to educate people on how to prevent mosquito breeding grounds in their homes.
If the epidemic is still going on in August, when Brazil is due to host the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the World Health Organisation warned pregnant women should avoid the country or be obsessive about covering up against mosquito bites. (Reuters)
