ZIKA VIRUS INFECTION IN MEXICO

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ZIKA VIRUS INFECTION IN MEXICO

• The pre­ven­tion and con­trol actions “Wash, Cov­er, Flip and Throw out” remain essen­tial for the pre­ven­tion of Dengue, Chikun­gun­ya and Zika in Mex­i­co
• Because of the asso­ci­a­tion of com­pli­ca­tions as micro­cephaly by Zika virus infec­tion in preg­nant women, it is very impor­tant to con­tin­ue with pre­ven­tion and con­trol actions.

Zika virus infec­tion is a dis­ease caused by a virus that is trans­mit­ted through the bite of the Aedes aegyp­ti mos­qui­to, trans­mit­ter of the same vec­tor of Dengue and Chikun­gun­ya. It was first iso­lat­ed in a mon­key in the Zika for­est in Entebbe, Ugan­da (Africa); since 1968 out­breaks have been report­ed from this dis­ease in trop­i­cal Africa and parts of South­east Asia.

In March 2014, was iden­ti­fied the pres­ence of Zika virus infec­tion in the Amer­i­c­as, and in Novem­ber 2015 was con­firmed the first indige­nous case of Zika virus infec­tion in Mex­i­co.

In Mex­i­co, Jan­u­ary 8, 2016 have been con­firmed 15 indige­nous cas­es of infec­tion Zika virus in the states of Chi­a­pas (10), Jalis­co (1) and Nue­vo Leon (4), while there have been three cas­es import­ed in Quere­taro (1), Nue­vo Leon (1) and Tamauli­pas (1).

On Jan­u­ary 17, 2016, the Pan Amer­i­can Health Orga­ni­za­tion has report­ed that there are 18 coun­tries that have con­firmed indige­nous cir­cu­la­tion of Zika virus (ZIKV) between 2015 and 2016: Brazil, Bar­ba­dos, Colom­bia, Ecuador, El Sal­vador, Guatemala, Guyana, French Guyana, Haiti, Hon­duras, Mar­tinique, Mex­i­co, Pana­ma, Paraguay, Puer­to Rico, St. Mar­tin, Suri­name and Venezuela.

Zika virus infec­tion is char­ac­ter­ized by:

- Fever.

- Con­junc­tivi­tis.

- Headache.

- Mus­cle pain.

- Rash.

- Itch.

- Shak­ing chills.

There is no spe­cif­ic treat­ment and as for Dengue and Chikun­gun­ya, the treat­ment is only symp­to­matic and for relieve pain and fever. There is no vac­cine to pre­vent the infec­tion of this virus.

It is impor­tant to note that Brazil has report­ed an asso­ci­a­tion between micro­cephaly and Zika virus infec­tion in preg­nant women. Micro­cephaly is a neu­ro­log­i­cal dis­or­der in which the cir­cum­fer­ence of the head is less than aver­age for a baby of their size or age. This coun­try has report­ed the occur­rence of three deaths attrib­uted by Zika virus infec­tion.

Since May 2014 in Mex­i­co have tak­en steps to pre­vent Zika virus infec­tion through pre­ven­tion cam­paigns and health pro­mo­tion, pre­ven­tive trav­el advi­sories, warn­ings and epi­demi­o­log­i­cal actions for vec­tor con­trol.

Mexico´s Epi­demi­o­log­i­cal Sur­veil­lance Sys­tem is ready for diag­no­sis of infec­tions by Zika virus.

In addi­tion to the pre­ven­tion and con­trol of the vec­tor, in the com­ing days it will spread a cam­paign in media about the impor­tance of pre­vent­ing Zika virus infec­tion espe­cial­ly among preg­nant women, to pre­vent com­pli­ca­tions such as micro­cephaly.

It is nec­es­sary to con­tin­ue spread­ing the fol­low­ing rec­om­men­da­tions:

Rec­om­men­da­tions to the pub­lic:

• Wear long sleeves, trousers and repel­lent.
• Wash the con­tain­ers in which you save water and cov­er them.
• Turn buck­ets and bot­tles and strip what you do not use and can accu­mu­late water
• Keep doors and win­dows closed, place mos­qui­to nets and sleep­ing pavil­ions.

Preg­nant women besides these rec­om­men­da­tions should attend pre­na­tal check­ups.

We hope that in the com­ing weeks or months the dis­ease will dis­perse in the coun­try.

So far in Mex­i­co there have been no deaths from the dis­ease by Zika virus.

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