It seems that Guyana and the Caribbean are not catching a break from mosquito-borne diseases. It was not long ago when the Chikungunya virus wreaked havoc on the region, now the Zika virus has arrived.
Recent reports suggest that the Zika virus is spreading faster than at first thought. It has already affected several countries in the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States.
The United States has waged a war against the Aedes aegypti mosquito which is known to transmit the Zika virus.
Infections are increasing, but many have ignored the advice of health officials not to expose themselves to mosquitoes because they believe the threat is exaggerated. The World Health Organization (WHO) is convinced enough to declare the virus a global pandemic and a public health emergency of international concern. It has called for a coordinated multilateral response from all countries to prevent it from spreading.
The WHO has urged pregnant women not to travel to the Caribbean and Latin America and to South Florida. Until recently, little attention was paid to the Zika virus. It may be that the virus had never struck a large population. There is no vaccine against the virus. Efforts to make one have just begun and that normally takes years and costs hundreds of millions.
Medical experts have stated that Zika is related to dengue, yellow fever and the West Nile virus. It was discovered in the Zika forest in Uganda in 1947 and is believed to be common across Africa and Asia. Only recently it has been identified as a severe form of microcephaly in northeast Brazil. Microcephaly is linked to unusually small heads and brain damage in babies born to infected mothers, as well as blindness, deafness, seizures and other congenital defects. Zika can cause fever, rash, joint pain, and redness in the whites of the eye.
In adults, the virus causes a form of temporary paralysis, called Guillain-Barré syndrome. But most people would not know they have it. About one in five persons will have the symptoms, which include a fever rarely higher than 102 degrees, itchy pink rash, bloodshot eyes, headaches and joint pains and would usually recover within a week. People usually do not get sick enough to go to the hospital, and they very rarely die of the virus. Many might not realize they have been infected.
In Guyana, there are a few confirmed cases of the virus. And the lack of immunity against the virus is of great concern to the people, especially pregnant women because the risk of a damaged fetus is too great.
Although information about the virus is continuously evolving, the question is how prepared are we to prevent it from spreading. Lest we forget, it was not long ago that Guyana was ill-prepared for the Chikungunya virus which in essence overwhelmed the nation.
The people are concerned that the Vector Control Services Unit at the Ministry of Public Health, which is responsible for implementing measures to contain the virus, might not be capable of preventing it from spreading. Their biggest worry, however, remains the damaging effect of the virus on babies developing in the womb. We recently learnt of several pregnant women here being affected. The only known prevention is to cover exposed skin, use insect repellants and keep your surroundings clean. Too many babies with Microcephaly have been born in Brazil and in other countries in Latin America already; thankfully none in Guyana so far. It is a heart-rending situation in reality, and we must also consider the likely toll it will take on parents because of inadequate government services.