The little things can be killers. Just take the yellow fever mosquito: the main culprit in transmitting the Zika virus.
Michael Brady, M.D., OB/GYN at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, spoke Wednesday at The University of Arizona College of Medicine — Phoenix about the Zika virus, the mosquitoes causing it and its effect on pregnant women.
The Zika virus was discovered in Uganda in 1947 when researchers studying yellow fever came across the single string RNA virus, Brady said. At the time, the virus did not seem to cause human illness.
“No human illness was reported until 1953, and there was a reasonable percent of the population that had antibodies against it,” Brady said.
According to Brady, the Zika virus first rose into public consciousness when cases were reported in northeastern Brazil in March of 2015. By September and October, there was an increase in reports of microcephaly, a birth defect causing an abnormally small head and underdeveloped brain, among Brazilian infants.
The United States has reported 346 cases of Zika virus as of April 6. According to Brady, the four symptoms of the virus are rash, pink eye, fever and joint pain.
When an infected mosquito bites an expectant mother, the virus is transmitted to the fetus and can cause developmental brain conditions, hydrocephaly (fluid buildup in the brain), or damage to the ocular nerves, eyes or hearing.
Karen Rose, registered nurse for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health said Arizona has a large population of yellow fever mosquitoes. However, the mosquitoes in Arizona are not infected with the virus.
There has been one reported case of the Zika virus in Arizona, in which a woman traveled abroad to a Zika-affected area and returned experiencing symptoms of the virus.
“It’s not here yet,” she said. “It was brought in so it’s not going around.”
She also spoke to assuage the fears of those in Arizona who may be concerned about the spread of the virus.
Rose said a specialized division of the Arizona Department of Health Services is dedicated to informing the public on Zika virus facts.
“Whether it’s a medical provider or a traveler, we do try to stay as current as possible with the daily updates we’re getting from the CDC,” Rose said.
Jennifer Adair, registered nurse for the Department of Public Health, said they field live calls from a wide range of people asking about the virus.
“It’s an interesting range of responses people have to the anxiety about this,” she said. “It really has covered the whole gamut, from people who lived extensively through the first trimester of their pregnancy overseas who are not concerned about getting Zika to people who never went anywhere or got bit by a mosquito who are adamant about getting tested.”
These mosquitoes are most likely to inhabit locations in which there is standing water or places that lack running water, Brady said. The yellow fever mosquito can reproduce in as little water as that of a bottle cap.
“The big picture solutions to these things will certainly be a vaccine, mosquito control is going to be important element of things, and then just addressing urban poverty,” Brady said.
According to Brady, an effective vaccine is at least a year or two away.
Contact the reporter at JLott3@asu.edu.
