The World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency on Feb. 1 due to the spread of the Zika virus. This is the fourth time the WHO has taken this kind of action — the previous time being for Ebola in 2014, according to The Washington Post.

Zika has been linked to a birth defect called microcephaly, which causes severe underdevelopment in the brain. Brazil has 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly, according to The Washington Post, with 270 confirmed with evidence of an infection.

The Daily Orange spoke with Sarah Lane, a professor of public health and anthropology at Syracuse University, and David Larsen, an assistant professor of public health at SU who specializes in the epidemiology of infectious diseases, about the virus and its global effects.

The Daily Orange: What does the virus mean for global public health?

Sandra Lane: We have a global emergency. The World Health Organization called it (on Feb. 1), and it’s quite frightening. When average people get it who are not pregnant, it’s a minor disease: they get it and then get over it. Although, it can persist in semen so it can be sexually transmitted. It was first identified in 1947 in Uganda, but it didn’t spread that much. We don’t exactly know how it got to Brazil, but people think it might’ve come in the blood of a traveler during the 2014 World Cup, and the mosquitos that spread it, Aedes aegypti, live in Brazil.

David Larsen: It’s getting a lot of attention, which is good. The Aedes aegypti spreads other diseases like dengue and yellow fever, and it’s very hard to control, so people paying more attention is definitely a good thing. The Zika virus itself is relatively mild compared to other mosquito-borne illnesses, but the cases of microcephaly are troubling.

The D.O.: Who is at risk the most?

S.L.: It looks like this is a new disease to most of the populations experiencing it, including Brazil, and when there’s a new disease, it can affect everyone in the population. Everybody includes pregnant women, and apparently when they get the disease — probably during a specific time during the pregnancy — it can cause a baby’s brain to not grow as well, and they’re born with microcephaly. It’s really awful, and many of those babies will die. The ones that don’t die, well, they haven’t grown up yet so we don’t really know, but they will be very developmentally delayed.

The D.O.: As of now, the 2016 Summer Olympics will still be held in Rio. Do you agree with this decision?

S.L.: I imagine they’ll go through with hosting the Olympics, and there are some new mosquito things coming along that will protect people. They’re still in the pre-production phase and these will be quite good things, but all we have right now is DEET. You can also be tested to see if you’ve developed antibodies. I personally, however, would tell my daughter not to go.

D.L.: I think it will be fine. There’s some relatively expensive interventions to control the Aedes aegypti, and one is to release genetically modified mosquitos that can’t procreate. Then they mate with the female Aedes aegypti and the offspring can’t survive. This is rather expensive, but it also crashes mosquito populations in a very effective manner, and I expect them to be doing some of these types of interventions. They are not sustainable in the long term, but they can be used to control the mosquitos, at least for the Olympics.

The D.O.: What can be done to keep Zika from continuing to spread?

S.L.: What we can do about it as a world is think about dealing with the mosquitos. We also have to think about developing a vaccine, but that’s going to take some time — people estimate it could take a decade. The third thing is that women who are in the reproductive ages in Brazil, between 14 and 25, have been advised not to have babies right now. That’s hard for a whole country, and I don’t know if they have that much access to family planning in many of the poorer parts of Brazil.

The D.O.: In most Latin American countries, abortion is illegal. Is there any chance countries might change their policies, given the connection between Zika and microcephaly?

S.L.: There are discussions now about “would this change policies about abortion,” but I can’t say. I respect people who have different opinions about this, but it may really cause people to discuss it seriously. We have had four cases in the United States of babies with microcephaly whose mothers had traveled to Latin America. For now, we will have to have more resources to care for babies who grow up with developmental disabilities.

Published on February 9, 2016 at 12:36 am

Contact Caroline: cbarthol@syr.edu