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Public Health and Viruses
Published in Patricia G. Melloy, Viruses and Society, 2023
The world has faced other challenges from viral pathogens less than five years before COVID-19, most notably the Zika virus in 2016 and the Ebola virus from 2014 to 2016. Before the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brazil, there was a concern that athletes would contract Zika virus during the games. Zika virus is a flavivirus (like West Nile virus) that is spread through mosquito bites but can be sexually transmitted by infected individuals. However, public health officials published a report indicating that for athletes from almost all the countries, the risk of contracting Zika virus was no greater than if they were traveling to a Zika-infected region (other countries in North and South America) for another reason. The researchers also cited evidence that fewer mosquitoes would be around during the winter months in Brazil (August) as well. However, the scientists did recommend taking precautions against getting mosquito bites and taking preventative measures to avoid sexual transmission even in the weeks after returning from the games. Nevertheless, pregnant women were advised not to attend due to the known risk of brain defects for the fetus (Grills et al. 2016). The recommended public health measures seemed to have worked, and no Zika cases were reported after the Olympics as of September 2016 (Tavernise 2016).
Rocket Science
Published in Norman Begg, The Remarkable Story of Vaccines, 2023
Over the last few years, gene-based science has created platforms that enable new vaccines to be made to order. The success of gene-based COVID-19 vaccines has paved the way for vaccines not just for pandemics, but for other diseases that have hitherto eluded conventional approaches, such as HIV. Gene-based vaccines are in development for Lassa fever (a viral disease that causes internal bleeding, like Ebola, which has caused outbreaks in West Africa since the 1950s) and for Zika virus, the mosquito-borne disease which has recently spread from Africa to many regions, especially South America. Zika virus causes devastating damage to the unborn baby if caught in pregnancy; the baby is born with a small head (microcephaly) and severe mental retardation. Gene-based vaccines are being pursued for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which causes a serious respiratory illness in young children and the elderly, and for cytomegalovirus (CMV), anther illness which causes damage to the developing fetus in pregnant women; one in 200 pregnancies are affected by CMV. A trial of an RNA vaccine against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has started. EBV is the cause of infectious mononucleosis (better known as glandular fever) but has also been linked to multiple sclerosis. Influenza vaccines will likely be improved by using gene-based technology. The world of viral vaccines is being revolutionised as the genomes of these tiny organisms are laid bare.
The Emergency Modality
Published in Kezia Barker, Robert A. Francis, Routledge Handbook of Biosecurity and Invasive Species, 2021
Francisco Tirado, Enrique Baleriola, Sebastián Moya
The Zika virus was identified in humans in 1952 in Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. Its first major outbreak was on the Island of Yap in 2007, its second in French Polynesia in 2013 and its third in Brazil in 2015. In this outbreak, the virus was associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome and microcephaly. Currently 86 countries have reported infections by Zika transmitted by mosquitoes (species Aedes Aegypti; WHO, 2018c).
Anxiety and depression among caregivers of young children with Congenital Zika Syndrome in Brazil
Published in Disability and Rehabilitation, 2021
Natalie A. Williams, Pompéia Villachan-Lyra, Christine Marvin, Emmanuelle Chaves, Cody Hollist, Holly Hatton-Bowers, Leopoldo Nelson F. Barbosa
On 1 February 2016, the World Health Organization declared an international public health emergency in response to the proliferation of the Zika virus. At that time, active transmission of Zika was reported in 28 countries and territories, with the majority of cases occurring in the Americas, including Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Haiti, and Barbados. No country was more affected by this outbreak than Brazil, where widespread transmission of this disease was first recognized in 2014 [1]. While most people infected by the Zika virus are asymptomatic or experience only mild symptoms, intrauterine infection can have devastating consequences for fetal development. Zika infection during pregnancy is associated with the occurrence of Congenital Zika Syndrome (CZS), a pattern of congenital anomalies that includes microcephaly and other serious brain abnormalities and sensory impairments [2–11]. Evidence suggests that pregnant women infected by the Zika virus in early pregnancy are at greater risk of having an infant with microcephaly [2]. A total of 3332 confirmed cases of CZS have been reported in Brazil from 2015 to 1 February 2019, with 70% of cases occurring in the northeast region of the country [12].
Can in utero Zika virus exposure be a risk factor for schizophrenia in the offspring?
Published in The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 2020
Johnathan Pierson, Rajashekar Reddy Yeruva, Rif S. El-Mallakh
The Zika virus was first described in 1947 in Uganda’s Zika forest and in Southeast Asia during a serological study of the yellow fever virus (Dick et al. 1952). Recently, the first New World outbreak of the virus occurred in South America and spread to Central America, the Caribbean Islands, and the southern United States (Mittal et al. 2017; World Health Organization 2015a, 2016b). The introduction of the virus into an environment in which none of the human hosts had previous exposure resulted in more severe presentations. In the original endemic areas, Zika infections were either asymptomatic or produced mild flu-like symptoms, rash, fever, arthralgias and conjunctivitis. However, the New World outbreaks of 2013 and 2015 were associated with a high incidence of Guillain-Barre syndrome and newborns presenting with neural abnormalities, microcephaly and foetal death (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control 2014; World Health Organization 2015b, 2016a).
General movements and motor outcomes in two infants exposed to Zika virus: brief report
Published in Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 2019
Daniele de Almeida Soares-Marangoni, Natália Matos Tedesco, Andressa Lagoa Nascimento, Priscila Rimoli De Almeida, Caroline Neder dos Santos Pereira
Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is transmitted to humans primarily by the bite of infected Aedes aegypiti mosquitoes.1 This otherwise benign disease was first associated to congenital central nervous system (CNS) malformation in 2015,2 after its earlier outbreak in Brazil1 followed by a sharp increase in the number of newborns with microcephaly.3 In 2016, the World Health Organization declared ZIKV infection constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.4 Since then, the worldwide scientific community has increasingly improved investigation on ZIKV pathogenesis in the developing CNS. Recent findings indicate ZIKV crosses placenta and target neuronal progenitor cells, particularly in the first trimester of gestation.5,6 This has been associated to multiple congenital abnormalities apart from microcephaly, including ventriculomegaly and white matter injury seen in brain imaging and retinal injury detected in eye fundus imaging (ophthalmoscopy). These abnormalities are linked to severe neurodevelopmental impairment.7,8 On the other hand, in infants exposed to ZIKV in the third trimester of gestation, subsequent neurodevelopment has been found to be normal despite the presence of mild brain lesion in the neonatal period.9