Zika cases on the rise in South America
The number of Zika cases is reportedly rising in South American countries. The latest Zika epidemiological update from the PAHO/ WHO indicates that there is currently an increase of Zika cases in Brazil. Health organizations issued a warning, explaining that neighboring countries such as Suriname must take additional precautionary measures to curb the spread of Zika.
Zika, a viral disease carried by mosquitoes, has spread to more than 60 countries and territories since the outbreak was identified in Brazil in 2015, raising alarm over its ability to cause microcepha- ly as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome. The World Health Organization said this month that Brazil and Latin America are recording lower numbers of infections than last year, but that all countries must remain vigilant. About 6,164 people are infected with the Zika virus in Brazil on a weekly basis. There has also been an increase of Zika cases in Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela during the past four weeks.
The doctor who first linked the Zika virus to birth defects says Brazil has too quickly forgotten the tragedy of 2,000 babies born with smaller-than-normal heads and runs the risk of a second wave of infections if the virus mutates. A year after the initial epidemic, public health authorities are reporting very few cases of microcephaly among newborns, a development obstetrician Adriana Melo and other researchers attribute to likely immunity among those already infected by the virus. “We will see sporadic cases, like any virus, but Zika is here to stay,” Mello told Reuters on Tuesday at her clinic for expectant mothers in northeastern Brazil, the region hardest hit by the initial wave of Zika in the Americas. PAHO/WHO still has no 2017 statistics on the Zika virus in Suriname. The latest data which is from December 2016 indicates that there were Zika cases in all of Suriname’s 10 districts.
At the beginning of 2016 there was an average of 249 Zika cases per week and at the end of the year the number of Zika cases dropped. In 2016 there were 4 people who had died as a result of Zika. In all 4 cases the men were older than 55 and they also had underlying complications. In 2016 there were also 15 cases reported of the Guillain-Barre syndrome.