Microcephaly’s link to Zika virus still to be probed

The WHO declared Zika an worldwide public health emergency on February 1.

Aside from mosquitoes, Zika can be spread through sexual contact in some cases, the CDC notes.

Ontario’s chief medical officer of health has confirmed the province’s first case of the Zika virus.

At a news conference in Geneva on Friday, Dr. Bruce Aylward, WHO’s executive director of outbreaks and health emergencies, said causation has not been proved, but they continue to proceed as if the association is causal or “guilty until proven innocent” for both microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare disorder of muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis.

The latest guidance comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and it’s based on research indicating that Zika can be passed from mother to child during delivery.

Until lately, experts thought Zika caused only mild symptoms, including fever, joint pain and rashes with the majority of infected people showing no symptoms at all.

Brazil is scrambling to contain the Zika outbreak that threatens attendance at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August. It is recommended that pregnant women and those considering becoming pregnant discuss their travel plans with their health care provider to assess their risk and consider postponing travel to areas where the Zika virus is circulating in the Americas. “We are seeing a lack of other explanatory causes”.

The CDC is now advising pregnant women to delay travel to foreign countries where Zika is being transmitted.

It’s understood he acquired the infection in the South American country before travelling. In fact, infected people, of which only 20 percent show symptoms, usually clear the effects in fewer than 10 days. And warmer temperatures – like the hottest year on record recorded last year, the same year Zika arrived in Brazil – are increasingly worrisome because they make it easier for the mosquitoes that transmit the virus to breed. Still, there no promising vaccine in the works for Zika now.

The Zika virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947, and until previous year was not thought to pose serious health risks.

Williams said the Public Health Agency of Canada, Public Health Ontario, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and other national and global partners have been working with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to monitor the virus.