Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Proven Zika Virus Causes Microcephaly - Andrew Witcher - 4th

What we all pretty much already knew to be true has been officially proven - the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that the zika virus causes microcephaly and other brain defects in children. Microcephaly causes the head size of a baby to be below average. While this was already visually evident, there was no conclusive proof that there was any relation, though now there is, scientists also believe that Zika might also cause Guillain-Barre disease in fetuses. Since the CDC has come to this global consensus, there are suggesting to women in south america and to southern Texas and Florida that if they are pregnant to protect themselves from mosquitos and if they are not to always wear a condom because it can be transmitted sexually and getting pregnant while carrying Zika highly increases the chances of having a child with a brain defect, but it doesn't happen 100% of the time. The disease is primarily carried by the Aedes mosquito and has had the worst outbreak in Brazil, where about 7000 babies were born with microcephaly since 2015. In America there are 346 cases of the virus from travel, but no cases from a local mosquito bite. However, since health officials are preparing for mosquito season, they have suggested that those living in southern North America wear repellent and long sleeves to protect themselves from Zika.

This can be synthesized to 2012 when there was an Ebola outbreak in Texas and the entire country got worried about an Ebola epidemic. Most likely though, as with the Ebola outbreak, health officials will manage to keep the Zika virus contained so that it doesnt become a national epidemic.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/zika-virus-causes-microcephaly-birth-defects-confirmed_us_570eb23de4b0ffa5937e13f6

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