SARS. Ebola. Swine flu. The Zika virus. What do all these diseases you’ve heard the names of countless times have in common? They were all in national news, until they weren’t.
Unfortunately, a disease no longer being deemed newsworthy doesn’t diminish the threat of illness, or lower infection rates in danger zones. There are no miracle cures and pandemic avoidance requires caution, work and extensive research. More than 4,175 cases of Zika have been reported in the U.S. and another 31,198 reported in U.S. territories as of November 11.
The World Health Organization has announced that the Zika virus no longer represents a public health emergency, which sounds like good news, although new cases are popping up in places like Texas. Overall, the spotlight on Zika is fading. In reality, the shift out of the limelight is simply because of a change in circumstances. Instead of immediate damage control, medical institutions are focusing on long-term solutions. The UNC School of Medicine alone has more than a dozen groups dedicated to Zika research and vaccine development.
“I think it’s very important to understand that when the public health emergency was initially declared it was because the association between the virus and microcephaly was unproven,” said Dr. Pete Salama, the executive director of the World Health Organization’s health emergencies program, in a WHO press briefing on November 22. “Today we’re in a very different situation. The association is clear. We know enough about the virus to know that it will continue to spread and we know that it causes microcephaly.”
According to Dr. Salama, the focus on Zika is shifting from short-term damage control to a long-term research agenda. Salama acknowledged this program will escalate in both scope of research and involvement of countries in danger from the virus. WHO plans to partner with endangered countries to “strengthen surveillance systems … and national response plans.”
Dr. Salama also expressed concern over funding, since most of the roughly $50 million that has been raised – falling short of the $112 million requested by the WHO – comes from emergency-oriented donors. Without the same level of urgency spurring financial contributions, the research efforts of WHO may lag behind what is necessary to truly combat the threat.
“This may not be any longer a public health emergency in official terms, but it’s a public health problem of huge concern for the world,” said Dr. Anthony Costello, WHO director of the department of maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health. “Sixty-nine countries have seen Zika virus emerge in the last two years. We’re talking about a virus that causes brain damage and potentially lifelong disability … We know that the problem has not gone away in Brazil, that every month between 150 and 200 cases of microcephaly are being identified. We know that we have to do extensive investigations which take many months to try and identify the size of the problem.”
With cases emerging in Asia and North America, this status change for the Zika virus is not meant to assuage public fears. Zika may no longer be spreading rapidly, but countries in the southern hemisphere will soon be entering a “high-risk” classification if cases continue to mount.
The UNC School of Medicine held “Unravelling Zika” on Tuesday, November 29. An expert panel discussion with Claire Farel, MD, MPH, Medical Director of the UNC Infectious Diseases Clinic, Helen Lazear, PhD, assistant professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Elizabeth Stringer, MD, associate professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and Anne Lyerly, MD, and obstetrician/gynecologist and bioethicist.
The full discussion was broadcasted live via social media, and can be found here.
While adults are largely not at risk, Zika presents significant threat to women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant. The virus can have devastating effects on unborn children and children in developmental stages. According to Center for Disease Control statistics as of November 11, there were 1,057 pregnant women in the continental U.S. and another 2,357 in U.S. territories who “reported any lab evidence of Zika virus infection.”
Public forums and discussions led by expert panels, such as “Unravelling Zika,” are the key to understanding and intelligently fighting disease. While emergency alarm bells concerning the Zika virus may have stopped ringing, the threat remains just as significant. Efforts to research, understand, treat and hopefully eventually vaccinate for Zika are critical, and an atmosphere of complacency could prove disastrous.
“I think WHO’s decision is unwise,” said Lawrence Gostin, a global health law expert from Georgetown University. “Although Zika’s spread has waned, it still holds the potential for an explosive epidemic. If it were to reemerge in the Americas or jump to another part of the world, it would significantly threaten a new generation of children born with disabilities such as microcephaly.”
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