What Zika Virus Does To Babies
WHO, World Health Organization, released a statement saying that the numbers of infected are uncertain because it is difficult in some areas of South America to test for the virus. Zika Virus is the newest pandemic, terrorizing pregnant women and their unborn babies. The virus is carried by Aedes Aeigypti mosquito and was first identified in Uganda in 1947. Since emerging in Brazil last spring, the virus has exploded across the Americas, spreading to at least 22 other countries and territories.
Babies born to mothers who have been infected result in a birth defect called Microcephaly. Microcephaly is a condition where babies are born with small heads and incompletely formed brains. It had never been linked to Zika virus until Brazilian doctors started noticing a dramatic rise in babies with brain malformations — nearly 4,000 reported microcephaly cases since late October, up from 147 in 2014.
Studies say that as babies with Microcephy grow up, some develop and function normally despite their small heads and some suffer irreversible damage, dwarfism, serious brain development delays and even seizures. There are cases in South America where the baby has to be fed through a feeding tube and "appears to be looking at nothing".
There is no known cure for the virus but scientists are scrambling to find some anti viral but they warn that this will take years!
Thereare many speculations about the way the virus is spread. At least two medical studies suggest there is a “theoretical risk.” One involves a 44-year-old Tahitian man from the 2013 outbreak in French Polynesia, who had high Zika levels in his semen even after the virus had been cleared from his bloodstream. Another involves a Colorado biologist who developed Zika symptoms shortly after returning home from Senegal. A few days later, his wife developed similar symptoms and subsequent investigations concluded she was likely infected via sexual transmission.
WHO also predicts that 3 to 4 million people will be infected in the coming months.
