Zika Virus! --Madeleine Norton, 4th period

The newest threat in the form of a mosquito-borne disease, Zika has spread across Souh and Central America. Although the affects are moderate and the illness remains in the blood stream for around two-three weeks, the threat is especially potent and dangerous to that of pregnant women. Mothers in the process of having children are said to have transmitted the disease to their newborns, causing small, shrunken heads and other serious mental birth defects.

Michael Pearson of CNN wrote this evening "Reports of a serious neurological condition, called Guillame-Barre Syndrome, that can lead to paralysis, have also risen in areas where the virus has been reported. Health officials have specifically seen clusters of this in El Salvador, Brazil and French Polynesia, according to WHO's Dr. Bruce Aylward. The conditions have not yet been conclusively linked to the virus.

'The experts agreed that a causal relationship between Zika infection during pregnancy and microcephaly is strongly suspected, though not yet scientifically proven,' Dr. Margaret Chan, the WHO director-general said. But the large area potentially affected by the virus, the lack of vaccines and reliable diagnostic tests, and lack of population immunity in the affected countries contributed to the need for the declaration, according to the WHO."

This can be synthesized with the Yellow Fever that spread across America in the late 1690's and later in the 1790's and 1870's. Believed to have been sent from Africa by mosquitoes, the same mosquito, in fact, that currently carries Zika (A. aegypti). Health measures must be carried out by state and federal governments, as the issue is reaching "public health emergency" level. It's particularly worrisome as the countries containing the virus are extremely close to the United States. Not only that, but if the issue isn't fixed soon, international connections (like the Olympics in Brazil next year) could lead to the virus spreading across the globe at alarming speeds.