Where did Zika virus come from?

Zika was first noticed in Africa, in Uganda's Ziika forest (yes it's spelled with two i's) in 1947. It spread slowly at first, and seemed to be a pretty harmless virus, causing hardly any symptoms at all in most people. But it picked up speed in around 2007 when it started spreading in the South Pacific and it showed up inBrazil in 2013, according to the latest research. Because hardly anyone in the Americas has immunity to Zika, it's spread explosively since then.

Ebola. Pandemic flu. And now the Zika virus. These emergencies all test the mettle of the world’s public health officials.

Those who would face such a challenge must have some sense of what to do.

“We need to be prepared, and quite frankly, the country is underprepared,” said U.S. Rep Susan Brooks, who Wednesday convened a group of about 40 public health workers and other would-be first responders to run through a training exercise at the Fishers Public Library.

Dr. W. Craig Vanderwagen, former assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, led the thought experiment into how to handle a blossoming smallpox outbreak that starts in Europe and rapidly spreads overseas.

[NAIROBI] The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) will convene in Kenya next month (23-27 May) to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the environmental challenges facing today’s world.

In preparation for the global meeting, representatives to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) attended a meeting in Kenya on 15-19 February this year, focusing on the environment, sustainability andhealth and discussed the link between conflicts and an increasingly over-exploited natural world.

“Strong political leadership is essential to create the legislative and regulatory environment to address the environmental dimension of the world’s current humanitarian crises.”

 

Judy Wakhungu, Kenya

 

Salesian missionaries are assisting the small village of Kumbrabai, 100 kilometers from the capital city of Freetown in Sierra Leone, which has been severely impacted by the Ebola virus. The village once had 270 residents but 82 villagers succumbed to Ebola and 65 more who were infected fled the village. Entire families were lost and some are left with only one member. Those who remained in the village were shunned by their own people who were afraid to enter homes where someone had died. The community was stigmatized and isolated by other villages out of fear.

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Sierra Leone's president is urging foreign investment in the West African country now that Ebola has declined.

President Ernest Bai Koroma said Thursday great efforts are needed to restart the economy — especially the agricultural sector, which suffered most during the world's deadliest Ebola outbreak that killed more than 11,300 people, mostly in West Africa.

WHO and Ministry of Health teams in Guinea and Liberia have established epidemiological links between new Ebola cases in Liberia and a current flare-up of Ebola in neighbouring Guinea following intensified case investigations and contact tracing.

Recently Africa has seen the resurgence of Ebola virus in the largest outbreak hitherto recorded in the current history. This outbreak scared people worldwide and required the intervention of the World Health Organization, governments of several countries, medical and research institutions and non-governmental organizations such as Doctors Without Borders. In Brazil, the number of dengue cases in 2015 was the largest ever recorded (1,649,008 probable cases¹) and the increasing number of people infected with Chikungunya and Zika viruses shows that the country is not prepared to deal with the proliferation of the mosquito Aedes aegypti, the main vector of Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika viruses. Additionally, big events like the Olympic Games (that will be held in Brazil in 2016) can facilitate the international spread of these viral diseases.

The current outbreak of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection has been associated with an apparent increased risk of congenital microcephaly. We describe a case of a pregnant woman and her fetus infected with ZIKV during the 11th gestational week. The fetal head circumference decreased from the 47th percentile to the 24th percentile between 16 and 20 weeks of gestation. ZIKV RNA was identified in maternal serum at 16 and 21 weeks of gestation. At 19 and 20 weeks of gestation, substantial brain abnormalities were detected on ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) without the presence of microcephaly or intracranial calcifications. On postmortem analysis of the fetal brain, diffuse cerebral cortical thinning, high ZIKV RNA loads, and viral particles were detected, and ZIKV was subsequently isolated.

read more at: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1601824

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday that Republicans would regret stalling President Barack Obama’s request for funds to combat the Zika virus. “At some point, they’re going to have to choose whether or not their animosity toward President Obama trumps their desire to try to protect pregnant women in their states from this terrible disease,” Earnest said.

WASHINGTON -- Federal money left over from the largely successful fight against Ebola will now go to fight the growing threat of the Zika virus, President Barack Obama's administration announced Wednesday.

Led by the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Brima Kargbo, a team of health officials are now on an on-the-spot visit to border crossing areas around the country.
The five man assessment mission to the eastern district of Kailahun was as a result of the re-emergence of the ebola disease in Liberia which borders with Sierra Leone, both on the south and east.
On arrival in Kailahun which could be described as one of the high risk districts, in the event of an epidemic, Dr Brima Kargbo noted that for the past year a single case has not been reported, and was very impressed over the level of preparedness and mechanisms put in place at border crossing points and the on-going community sensitization.

05 APRIL 2016 - WHO and partners need US$ 2.2 billion to provide lifesaving health services to more than 79 million people in more than 30 countries facing protracted emergencies this year, according to WHO’s Humanitarian Response Plans 2016 launched today.