Brazil deploys more than 200000 troops to battle Zika mosquitoes

Many countries have raised their alert levels or boosted their efforts against the Zika virus as scientists race to develop a vaccine for Zika, but the World Health Organization (WHO) says vaccines could come out in at least 18 months.

There are 31,555 cases of the disease in Colombia, the national health institute said in a epidemiology bulletin, among them 5,013 pregnant women.

The epidemic could affect 600,000 people in the country and cause about 500 cases of microcephaly, a congenital defect in which the head of a baby is abnormally small and brain development is not completed, the government stated.

The World Health Organization now estimates there could be up to 4 million cases of Zika infection – but not necessarily microcephaly birth defects – in the Americas in the next year.

At the end of January, the Colombian health minister, Alejandro Gaviria, reported roughly 20,000 Zika infections, placing the country second only to Brazil in the severity of its outbreak.

The leaflets warn of the dangers of still and stagnant water as breeding grounds for mosquitoes, and methods for such holdings to be removed and prevented.

But it added, “Women who are pregnant should discuss their travel plans with their healthcare provider and consider delaying travel to any area where locally acquired Zika infection is occurring”. Separate studies also are being conducted in Brazil. Ultrasound at 29 weeks revealed that her baby would be microcephalic, and a subsequent fetal autopsy found traces of the virus in the brain tissue.

The ministry said it had confirmed 462 of those cases as microcephaly or other alterations to the central nervous system.

Zika’s immediate effects are mild, consisting mostly of a moderate fever and a rash, and only a fifth of those afflicted notice any symptoms.

Meanwhile, Kieny said it would take an estimated “few weeks” to establish whether Zika causes microcephaly and the severe neurological disorder Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Clinical and preliminary laboratory evidence has shown that many mothers of children with microcephaly were infected with Zika during their pregnancies.

Dr. Robert Lerer, Butler County health commissioner, said as more travelers return from the infected countries, these cases will be “no news”.

“I would suggest that all women who are in that age group and are going down there to travel, don’t”, says Bhargava.

He said symptoms could be treated with rest, fluids, and paracetamol, while aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs should be used only when dengue had been ruled out to reduce the risk of bleeding.

From Monday to Thursday, 50,000 soldiers accompanied by municipal health workers will spray homes with insecticides and larvicides to kill the Aedes aegypti mosquito which transmits not only Zika virus, but also dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever, Defense Minister Aldo Rebelo said. There was one fatality in those three cases.