The Zika virus has come to the United States. A virus from the Flaviviridae, is spread via the A. albopictus or A. aegypti mosquitoes that feed and transmit the virus to humans during feeding. Related to the West Nile, yellow fever, and dengue viruses, it spread eastward and eventually made its way to the Americas where it created the 2015-16 Zika virus epidemic. While the virus itself does little to the person infected, it can have horrible and permanent consequences for the child that was born while exposed to the virus. Microcephaly is a common birth defect in babies exposed to the Zika virus. They may even be born with a partially collapsed skull. Babies exposed to the virus may also experience severe brain deformations leading to lifelong disability for the infant. There is hope however. The Zika virus vaccine is in the works and people may receive vaccinations within the next decade. While there is hope for a solution, because the vaccine is in clinical trials, people must do what they can to avoid being infected.

This means removing stagnant water and keeping mosquito repellant on hand in areas that have a lot of mosquitoes. Thanks to the multiple hurricanes that hit the United States and its territories, the Zika virus could become an epidemic or at least a cause for concern. It is up to people in these disaster areas to clear up the breeding grounds of mosquitoes such as stagnant water spots to prevent the rise of an epidemic. This paper will deal with explaining the Zika virus, what is being done to combat infection, and what will be done in the future to end the worry of such a virus.

Introduction

The Zika virus is a disease once low on the priority of preventing. This is because the Zika virus did not cause severe symptoms in those infected. Often only one in five people or 20% of those infected even exhibit symptoms. However, with the recent Zika virus epidemic experienced in Brazil, people are scared more than ever of the diseases coming and reaching epidemic levels in the United States. This is especially the case thanks to a devastating hurricane seasons that caused torrential rain and flooding in Florida, Texas, and Puerto Rico. This essay is meant to provide information on what is being done to keep the Zika virus threat from spreading in the United States along with what it is and why it is such a danger.

What is the Zika virus?

A virus from the Flaviviridae family, the Zika virus is spread via the A. albopictus or A. aegypti mosquitoes that when on the skin, transmit the virus to humans during feeding. Related to the West Nile, yellow fever, and dengue viruses, it spread eastward to Asia and other Pacific areas including islands and eventually made its way to the Americas where it created the 2015-16 Zika virus epidemic. The epidemic primarily affected Brazil. Brazilians experienced higher rates of infection and with it higher rates of birth defects that promoted a desire to understand the true impact of the virus in the human body, especially in pregnant women. While the virus itself does little to the person infected, it can have horrible and permanent consequences for the child that was born while exposed to the virus.

The major concern of the Zika virus is birth defects, specifically related to the head and brain. One study noted the occurrence of birth defects when pregnant women were exposed to the Zika virus. Among the 442 completed pregnancies...

“primarily microcephaly with brain abnormalities, whereas among women with possible Zika virus infection during the first trimester, 11% had a fetus or infant with a birth defect” (Honein et al., 2017, p. 59). The figures may seem small, but any chance for an infant to have birth defects due to a virus is cause for further study and determinations of ways to prevent this. The search for a better understanding of the Zika virus has led researchers to examine its effects on animals to understand the link between birth defects and the Zika virus. They did this through examining its origins and possible connection to gene manipulation.
A 2016 article explains the early origins of the Zika virus in terms of humans discovering and growing aware of it.

Zika virus was first discovered in the late 1940s by Scottish virologist George W.A. Dick and two of his colleagues formerly from the Rockefeller Foundation. While monitoring rhesus monkeys caged in the canopy of Uganda's Zika forest for signs of mosquito-borne disease, they sampled the blood of a febrile monkey and discovered a previously unknown virus, which they named after the region. The team later found the same virus in pulverized suspensions of the Aedes africanus mosquito (Becker, 2016, p. 225).

They saw that the virus could be transmitted through mosquitoes and lead to infections in humans. What had begun in Africa, eventually spread to Asia through the Zika virus spreading in various species of Aedes mosquito. Researchers note it may also be spread by humans through sexual intercourse and that the Asian lineage is what caused the Zika outbreaks in the 2007 epidemic in Micronesia. There were also cases of Zika virus outbreaks in Polynesia for the years 2013 and 2014.

However, because the symptoms were minor, people disregarded the spread. It was not until Brazil’s epidemic that people began piecing together the connection between birth defects and Zika virus infection. Thanks to the multiple cases of microcephaly in Brazil during the epidemic, research gained enough circumstantial evidence to try to explore a direct causal link. The possibility of the virus causing microcephaly and other brain and head abnormalities could be due to the way it direct infects brain cells or the mother’s antibodies limiting proper fetal development. “The virus might directly infect brain cells, or it could work via an indirect mechanism whereby viral toxins damage developing neural tissue, she says. Or, maternal antibodies to the virus could be interfering with normal fetal development” (Becker, 2016, p. 226).

To understand the effects, scientists have experienced with the virus in mice and other non-primate animals. Similar to experiments done in the 1950’s and 70’s, they are trying to understand what causes the changes after infection. What scientists observed in mice after injection of the Zika virus was necrosis in the neuros of the hippocampus, enlarged glia, inflammation, as well as active viral replication (Bell, Field, & Narang, 1971). Scientists now hope to see other effects besides the ones previously observed. However, now that there is mounting evidence for the causal link of the Zika virus and birth defects, organizations like the CDC have made it a priority to let people know what the Zika…