Bracing for Zika outbreak

Good news: The Philippines is still free of active Zika transmission yet as of press time.

But the bad news is that the threat is not that far away – the dreaded virus has reached a province in China.

Just last March 1, China reported that Guangdong province registered the country’s 10th confirmed

Zika case, with a 40-year- old father of two Zika patients having contracted the disease, according to Xinhua News, the nation’s official press agency.

First and only case

The Philippines recorded its first and to date, only, Zika case in 2012, when a 15year- old boy in Cebu City was diagnosed with the virus.

Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) Medical Specialist III Dr. Arthur Dessi Roman said the boy did not have any history of travel to other countries. RITM is an attached agency of DOH.

“Maybe there was a tourist in Cebu who was bitten by a mosquito and then the patient was also bitten by that mosquito,” he told Manila Bulletin (MB) in an interview. The Aedes aegypti is the mosquito carrying the Zika virus.

DOH spokesman Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy said that Zika remains a local concern in the country. “As Dr. Dessi [Roman] said, due to a previous case, Zika [in the Philip- pines is possible], but as of now, there still no active transmission,” he said.

‘Zika carrier’ Aedes aegypti can be found in tropical countries. It is the same strain of mosquito that carries dengue and Chikungunya, but Roman clarified that a mosquito can contain only one type of virus.

“The virus stays in the salivary glands of the mosquito, so if a mosquito bites a patient, that virus can be transferred from its glands to the patient,” he said. “But studies and researches say that a mosquito can carry with it only one type of virus. So, if a mosquito carries dengue virus, then it has dengue virus alone.”

He mentioned a case of a male patient who was diagnosed with all three viruses – dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika – in Colombia.

“The assumption there is, probably, the patient was bitten by three different types of mosquitoes,” Roman said. “In Colombia, all three types of virus are present.”

Delay pregnancy

DOH has already advised women to delay pregnancy until next year and wait for further information on the virus.

Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (POGS) President Dr. Blanca de Guia Fuerte, agrees, saying that the possibility of Zika entering the country would be “a big problem.”

Zika is being associated with microcephaly among the newborn, although experts are still looking for an established link between the two.

Rare condition

Microcephaly is a rare condition caused by the baby’s abnormal brain development in the womb or during infancy. A baby afflicted with microcephaly has an unusually small head.

Fuerte added that microcephaly, in turn, causes mental retardation, developmental disability, seizures, and problem with walking.

“Microcephaly is the most common thing [being connected to Zika,] but there may be other anomalies related to Zika which are not commonly seen,” Fuerte said. “So, it is very important that the mother is not infected with the virus.”

Roman clarified that not all cases of microcephaly is caused by Zika.

Screening for pregnant women

Fuerte said that pregnant women would be subject to screening once they feel two of the symptoms including fever, muscle pains, headaches, rashes, and joint pains.

If the blood sample of the mother is proven positive for Zika virus, then evidence of microcephaly will be closely monitored.

“The evidence of microcephaly may be seen on ultrasound, and [for] complete diagnosis, it must be done during the late second trimester or the early third trimester of pregnancy,” she said.

Research, surveillance

Early this month, scientists confirmed that the virus can also cause the Guillain-Barre syndrome, where the body’s immune system attacks a portion of the nervous system that manages muscle strength, causing weakness in the legs and arms.

The findings were published recently in the medical journal The Lancet.

No vaccine yet

Leading pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline ( GSK) Philippines “has been closely monitoring the outbreak of Zika in Brazil since it began in the fall of 2015,”

At present, GSK does not have vaccine candidates in development for Zika.

Vigilance, cleanliness

Filipinos must be vigilant in detecting the first few cases of Zika transmission in the Philippines, if ever, via screening at the points of entry.

Lee Suy said Filipinos can do something in keeping the country Zika-free – simply by keeping their environs spic and span.

“As we know, Zika’s main transmission is through the bite of a mosquito, so we should always keep the cleanliness of our surroundings,” he said.