Zika Virus

By: Kasey Vangelov

The Zika virus has been spreading throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, just recently entering the United States. It is primarily spread by mosquito bites, which is why it travels so quickly through warmer climates.  The virus is by no means new, there have been reported cases in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands, but there is still no cure or preventative vaccine for it.

Unless someone is already very sick, the virus is not life threatening.  The symptoms tend to be mild, only lasting a few days to a week.  Symptoms include a fever, joint pain, red eyes, and sometimes a rash.  Only 1 in 5 people who contract the virus get sick from it, and some people mistake it for the common cold.

The virus has been correlated with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), which is a disorder that affects the immune system, sometimes resulting in paralysis.  There is no substantial proof that the Zika virus causes GBS.

While it may seem like the Zika virus is, in certain respects, not a big deal, there is a reason for all the recent hype.  When a pregnant mother is infected with the Zika virus, it complicates her pregnancy.  Children are born with birth defects including microcephaly, which is when a baby’s head is smaller than it should be.

In the countries the Zika virus is spreading, such as El Salvador, the amount of children being born with defects has been substantially increasing.  This is because contraceptives and abortions are illegal, even in cases of rape.  To put the severity of the anti-abortion laws in perspective, if a miscarriage is ruled as an illegal abortion, a woman can serve around 40 years in prison for murder.

Pregnant people in Latin America and the Caribbean aren’t getting much virus-related advice from Public Health Officials.  Citizens are told to avoid getting mosquito bites, and to hold off on getting pregnant until 2018; this is when they suspect the virus to decrease substantially in the region. Since the Zika virus is spreading, the debate on whether or not abortion should be legal in rape cases, virus-related cases, or all cases, has gained momentum.