Brazil has reported to find the first virus outbreak transferred through blood transfusion. The Zika Virus was first found in a man that was infected after he was given blood while being treated for gunshot wounds. In most cases, the Zika Virus is transferred through mosquitoes, but in some cases it has been spread through blood transfusion and sexual contact. Brazil’s top health official said that the virus outbreak is a bigger problem than they anticipated because most of the victims seem to show no symptoms. Better-quality testing will allow health officials to perform more accurate tests on people and get a better hold of the escalating public health crisis.
The Zika epidemic has currently spread across Brazil, which is causing the virus to break-out throughout Latin America. As the virus outbreak pursues in areas including Central and South America, the amount of concern is rising amongst people, mostly pregnant women because the virus has been connected with a dangerous birth defect called, Microcephaly, which is linked with irregularly small heads and brains.
Brazil President, Dilma Rousseff, stated in a televised address that the virus has moved from a “distant nightmare” to a “real threat.” According to Rousseff, the government is working on coming up with a vaccine, but as of now avoiding the mosquito is the only way that one can avoid the virus.
Thousands of soldiers and health care workers were called to help stop the Zika virus from spreading. Soldiers have been stopping at each door in impacted areas and where still waters are located where mosquitoes may be likely to breed and spread. It is said that more than a million people in Brazil were infected with the Zika virus since it was first found in 2015.
On February 1, the Word Health Organization announced the Zika virus outbreak to be a global health emergency. Their declaration should help speed up any country’s preparation beforehand in case the outbreak starts to spread outside of Latin America and makes the Zika Virus a top research priority.
Brazilian bio-medical research centers are working with U.S centers to come up with a Zika Vaccine in time. Until there is a successful cure, Brazil’s only method to prevent the virus from spreading is to try and get rid of the mosquito that spreads the virus. But, while countries around the world are trying to work on a vaccine, a company in India, Bharat Biotech, has become the first company in the world that has developed two vaccines against the Zika virus. Bharat Biotech started developing the vaccine in November 2014 when the current outbreak in Brazil began in April 2015. The company has filed a patent for a Zika vaccine, which is now being tested and will hopefully be able to cure the virus.
