Question

The zika virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947. The virus is transmitted from person to person by a bite from a mosquito. It is commonly carried by the Aedes mosquito which is prevalent throughout Central Africa. The virus has more recently spread to the Americas (South, Central, and now North) and is expected to spread to Europe. There is a concern that the virus may reach epidemic proportions. Zika virus is related to yellow and dengue fever. Common symptoms are low grade fever and a distinctive skin rash and other symptoms include vomiting, headache, and muscle and/or joint pain. Pregnant women should avoid traveling to areas known to have zika virus present because the virus is known to cause microcephaly and developmental difficulties related to the central nervous system.

Based on the paragraph above, class discussions, and other VALID (be careful with your selection of e-materials! CDC – Center for Disease Control is a good place to start) sources of information please answer the following questions.

1. State a reason why the virus has spread to the Americas and likely to spread to Europe.

2. Define the term microcephaly.

3. What bones of the fetal skull would be affected by zika?

4. Specifically, what area of the CNS is not fully developed in microcephalic individuals.

5. In 1 -3 sentences describe the developmental difficulties of microcephalic individuals.

6. How does one know if they have contracted zika?

7. Do men need to be concerned about contracting zika?

8. How does one avoid contracting zika?

9. In a short paragraph (2-5 sentences!) provide one example of a scientific measure that could possibly control the spread of zika and explain how the measure works (controls the spread).

Answer 1

1. Zika Virus has can infect people travelling to endemic area by mosquito bite, sexual route and infected persons can remain asymptomatic and can have mild symptoms of viral infection. They can infect the people when they return to home country (mainly by sexual transmission)
2. Microcephaly is a term used for small head which is usually due problems in brain development. Exact definition of severe Microcephaly is occipito-frontal head circumference more than or equal to 3 standard deviation below the mean for same sex, age and ethnicity. (brain weight </= 2SD is microcephaly)
3. It mainly affects the bones of the skull which is covering the brain. it is characterised by a collapsed skull cap, with overlapping sutures and prominent occipital bones.
4. Cerebral Cortex of the CNS is affected in most cases. Appearance is agyria-pachygyria on brain imaging. The involvement is usually diffuse, but, frontal, insular, and parietal lobes predominance is usually seen, with varying degrees of severity. there can be widening of CSF spaces, abnormalities with development of corpus callosum, cerebellum, brain stem also can be seen. Brain calcification is also seen. They can also have vision impairment.
5. At the age of 2 years, babies born with congenital zika infection can have problems with sitting independently, feeding, and sleeping. They can also have seizures and hearing and vision problems ( can be identified by lack of response to the sound of a rattle and unable to follow a moving object with their eyes.

I have tried to answer maximum questions possible in the given time. Please do ask multiple questions separately so that we can help you better. I will give you an outline of the remaining answers. check your resources and complete it.

• by symptoms, and laboratory tests (RT-PCR of body fluids, antibodies against zika in blood)
• men are typically not vulnerable but, they can transmit the infection to other females of reproductive age group ( and they might be pregnant)
• limit travel to endemic countries, safe sex (no vaccine available yet).
• above mentioned things+ mosquito control+ zika surveillance.