Il virus Zika (ZIKV) è un RNA virus della famiglia Flaviviridae, genere Flavivirus, gruppo Spondweni, isolato per la prima volta nel 1947 da un primate in Uganda, nella Foresta Zika, riserva naturale vicino Entebbe. Negli ultimi anni la malattia si è poi diffusa in tutti i continenti, Europa inclusa.
Negli esseri umani provoca una malattia nota come "zika" o febbre Zika. Il virus è strettamente correlato a quelli che provocano la dengue, la febbre gialla, l'encefalite del Nilo occidentale e l'encefalite giapponese, tutti trasmessi principalmente da punture di insetto e pertanto definiti arbovirus.
Esso è trasmesso da numerose zanzare del genere Aedes, negli ambienti equatoriali soprattutto la Aedes aegypti e in quelli temperati la Aedes albopictus (zanzara tigre).
Secondo la mappa pubblicata dall'Economist sulla diffusione del virus Zika gli stati dell'Unione Europea più a rischio sarebbero l'Italia, il Portogallo e la Francia.
Perché improvvisamente è diventato così allarmante. C'entra un'epidemia in Brasile.
Brazil has reported 3,893 suspected cases of microcephaly, the WHO said last Friday, over 30 times more than in any year since 2010 and equivalent to 1-2 percent of all newborns in the state of Pernambuco, one of the worst-hit areas.
La preoccupazione dell'Organizzazione Mondialie della Sanità per la rapida diffusione del virus che se in bambini e adulti provoca solo una lieve infezione con qualche sfogo cutaneo, guaribile di solito dopo una settimana di febbre, nelle donne in gravidanza si sospetta possa portare a malformazioni del feto.
Officials from the World Health Organization said on Thursday that the Zika virus was "spreading explosively" in the Americas and announced that they would convene an emergency meeting on Monday to decide whether to declare a public health emergency. "The level of alarm is extremely high," said Dr. Margaret Chan, the director general of the W.H.O., in a speech in Geneva.
Gli abitanti del continente americano infettati potrebbero superare i 3 milioni nei prossimi 12 mesi.
Some 3 to 4 million people in South America and North America may become infected by Zika in the next 12 months, health officials estimated at a WHO update in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday.
Il virus potrebbe trasmettersi sessualmente.
Zika virus has already been linked to brain damage in babies and paralysis in adults. Now scientists are facing another ominous possibility: that on rare occasions, the virus might be transmitted through sex. The evidence is very slim; only a couple of cases have been described in medical literature. But a few experts feel the prospect is disturbing enough that federal health officials should inform all travelers, not just pregnant women, of the potential danger.
Quali sono i pericoli per i feti.
Si parla principalmente di microcefalia.
Those infected with Zika during pregnancy appear to be able to transmit the virus to their fetuses. In some cases, this may lead to microcephaly, a terrible congenital condition that's associated with a small head and incomplete brain development. Babies born with microcephaly have a limited life expectancy and poor brain function.
Ma si teme anche la sindrome di Guillain-Barré.
With GBS, a person typically will lose strength in the legs at first; for some, the problem progresses in an "ascending" manner, meaning that the arms and the muscles of breathing may be next affected. Thankfully, for most patients, this severe form does not develop. If a patient—even one with paralyzed breathing muscles — can be stabilized, including support with a ventilator if needed, most will survive.
Al momento per il virus Zika non esiste una cura e neppure un vaccino. Per il loro sviluppo potrebbe essere necessario parecchio tempo.
[A] real cure could be decades from existence. Infectious disease experts say a safe and effective Zika virus vaccine is "probably three to 10 years away even with accelerated research."
Lo stato di El Salvador ha avvisato la popolazione femminile di evitare gravidanze, per quanto possibile, almeno sino al 2018.
In a stunning development in El Salvador, health officials have advised all women of reproductive age to delay pregnancy until 2018 due to concerns about possible birth defects linked to the virus. Earlier this month, the El Salvador Health Department disclosed they had found 492 Zika cases.
Gli Stati Uniti si sono limitati a consigliare a donne incinte di evitare viaggi in gran parte del centro e sud America.
Pregnant women should not travel to Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Guyana, Cape Verde and Samoa because of Zika virus, the CDC said Friday... This comes on the heels of last week's travel alert from the CDC recommending pregnant women postpone travel to Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.
Alcuni scienziati pensano che una delle causa dell'epidemia scoppiata in sud America possa essere ricondursi agli effetti del riscaldamento globale.
In recent years, researchers have increasingly devoted themselves to the investigation of how future climate scenarios might affect these mosquito populations. And many have concluded that a warmer world is likely to be a boon to the bugs, allowing them reproduce faster, emerge earlier in the season, survive longer and even spread northward. The appearance of Zika in the Americas, where it was likely carried by travelers from the eastern hemisphere, thus adds one more disease to the list of potential public health concerns under a warming scenario.
