Are we prepared for ZIKA?

I had honestly not heard of ZIKA virus till recently, when this hitherto unheard virus shot into international fame for allegedly damaging the brains of babies growing in their mother’s wombs, and having them being born in vegetative states with mental retardation. 

It is true, that ZIKA, which spreads through mosquito bites, does not seem to be dangerously fatal to the humans it stings, but the suspected havoc it causes to expecting mothers, who go on to deliver deformed mentally retarded babies, and the effect of this trauma on their families is often perceived by many to be worse than death.

Although ZIKA virus epidemic is raging in distant countries like Brazil, Mexico, Africa and other South American nations, it would be silly to adopt an “ Abhi Dilli Door Hai” stance. The same strain of mosquito that spreads ZIKA, called Aedes aegypti, is rampant in most ‘nukkars’ and ‘galis’ of India. At the moment it is fervently engaged in spreading other viruses such as Dengue and Chikungunya here. 

But when ZIKA arrives here after getting past the Indian immigration, it will find the Aedes mosquitoes eagerly waiting to carry it to a huge number of human Indian hosts living in populated towns and cities, many of who would be pregnant mothers. If swarms of Aedes mosquitoes could carry the Dengue and Chikungunya viruses, bringing governments to their knees, why would they not carry ZIKA?

Most people who catch the ZIKA infection do not show symptoms. Few (around 20%) develop fever, body aches, rash and congestion of the eyes that pass off in a few days. Hardly anyone dies. But some adults develop neurologic problems such as paralysis of muscles.

But the problem is, that unlike Dengue, there is no easy test to detect the infection. How then would an expectant mother know if she suffered the ZIKA infection during pregnancy? Or worse, how would she know that the baby growing in her womb has not been unknowingly harmed by the infection that she did not get to know about? 

This is what is making young mothers and couples in ZIKA affected areas go crazy, some even committing suicide after giving birth to deformed babies with small heads (microcephaly).

The World Health Organisation has sounded an international alarm, and the Indian government has echoed it. But in the absence of specific diagnostic tests, specific drugs to kill the virus or a vaccine to prevent the infection, how do people and nations that have swarms of mosquitoes breeding passionately face this dangerous threat?

The solution could lie beyond the virus, in its transmitter, the mosquito that carry it. And making settlements free of mosquitoes could solve the problem not just of ZIKA, but that of Dengue, Chikungunya, malaria and many more.

Civic bodies seem better positioned to solve this health problem than medical people. And we could play our little individual roles to check the mosquito-menace near our homes, schools and offices.