Thursday, March 28, 2024

Pres. Obama Pushing for Development of Zika Virus Vaccine

zika virus*The Zika virus has shaped up to be a top priority for President Barack Obama  as he urgently calls for the development of research to develop a vaccine as well as testing and treatment for the mosquito-borne virus.

A statement released by the White House acknowledges the importance of combatting the Zika virus as it ensured that steps are being taken to keep everyone safe and protected.

“The president emphasized the need to accelerate research efforts to make available better diagnostic tests, to develop vaccines… and to ensure that all Americans have information about the Zika virus and steps they can take to better protect themselves from infection,” the statement read.

Although Obama is pushing hard for a Zika vaccine, researchers reveal that a vaccine could take a decade to develop.

Zika-VirusCarried through the Aedes species of mosquito in South America, the Zika virus is linked to microcephaly, a rare birth defect that is harmful to babies, with them being born with abnormally small heads and brain damage.

Those infected with the Zika virus display mild symptoms that include low-grade fever, rash, red eyes, and joint pain. With about 80% of people infected with the Zika virus showing no symptoms, it provides a difficult challenge for doctors to diagnose the virus in pregnant women. As a result the Zika virus often gets misdiagnosed for dengue or malaria in developing countries.

Further adding to the situation are traces of the Zika virus that were found in semen, thereby triggering an investigation by experts into the possibility that the virus can be transmitted sexually.

As it stands now, the Zika virus has spread to 25 countries. Despite no deaths being reported so far, nearly 4,000 babies were born with microcephaly in countries like Brazil that have widespread outbreaks of the virus.

With the Zika virus doing great damage internationally, officials in El Salvador have taken it upon themselves to prevent the virus from doing more harm by warning women not to get pregnant until 2018.

Weighing in on the situation, the World Health Organization (WHO) predicts the Zika virus will eventually spread to all countries and territories in the Americas. The only countries that would be exempt from the spread would be Canada and Chile, where the climate prevents Zika-carrying mosquitoes from living in those places.

In the United States, the impact of the Zika virus is coming to light. Although mosquitos carrying the virus are overseas, common variety backyard mosquitoes in the U.S. can also pick up the Zika virus. According to reports, American health officials are afraid the Zika virus could Infect 60% of the U.S. population when mosquito season fully starts during the warmer seasons. Translated, that’s 200 million people.

Thus far, four people in the New York area as well as one woman in Virginia and a teenage girl in Los Angeles have all tested positive for the Zika virus. Like the woman in Virginia and the girl in LA, at least two of the infected people in New York contracted the virus while traveling abroad. As for all of the infected women, none of them are pregnant.

Regarding the infected Americans, spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta mentioned that in light of it not being mosquito season in New York and Virginia, the women pose no risk to others.

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