#zika symptoms
Special diet, weight gain, general pains, parental anxiety….when pregnant, there is no end to what we worry about. And recent weeks have given pregnant moms yet another thing to worry about: the Zika virus, which has caused thousands of new babies in Brazil to be born with microcephaly (small heads and brain damage).
TheWorld Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Zika Virus an “international public health emergency” and the CDC has warned pregnant Americans from travelling abroad to Zika infested areas. Is Zika something you should be worried about? Let’s investigate.
The Zika Facts
Simply put, the Zika virus is a mosquito-transmitted infection. 80% of the people who contract the virus experience no symptoms. The other 20% may encounter fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes. Zika has existed in Africa and Asia for decades, and it surfaced in the Western Hemisphere last May with an outbreak in Brazil.
Few of us Western Hemisphere-dwellers have built up immune defenses against Zika, so the virus spread rapidly after its emergence in Brazil. Millions in the tropical regions of the Americas may now have been infected. Most alarmingly, authorities in Brazil are currently investigating nearly 4,000+ cases of microcephaly (compare to the 150 cases of microcephaly they typically have annually). What’s more, we don’t have a cure or vaccination for the Zika virus, and a possible treatment is years away.
The Zika Scare
Zika sounds scary on paper, and the media makes it look really really scary. But how worried are people actually? We asked our Glow Community to weigh in with their thoughts about Zika, and here’s what we learned from the 7,000+ women who responded: 5% of women said they were terrified of the Zika virus, over half of women claimed they were not worried about Zika, and an astonishing 12% of women had never heard of the virus!
And Glow’s perspective? On a scale of top 100 things to worry about while pregnant, we’d put the Zika virus no higher than mid 60s for now. Especially if you live far away from the infected regions. Here’s why.
Zika Exaggerated
We have a hunch that the Zika virus is being blown out of proportion. First, no causal link between Zika virus and microcephaly in babies has been conclusively proven. Only 17 of the roughly 400 microcephaly cases confirmed by Brazilian health officials so far have conclusively tested positive for Zika infection, according to the latest data from the World Health Organization.
Furthermore, microcephaly can emerge due to genetic and environmental factors, not just from Zika alone. Some babies have microcephaly because of changes in their genes. Microcephaly can also be caused by exposures to certain infections (rubella, toxoplasmosis, or cytomegalovirus), lack of nutrition, and substances like alcohol, drugs, or toxic chemicals during pregnancy. In fact, 25,000 cases of microcephaly are already being diagnosed in the United States every year. Although, scientists note that not all of these cases will be as severe as the cases currently being investigated in Brazil.
What’s more, we believe the reported numbers behind the Zika virus could be somewhat exaggerated. Remember those 4,000 cases raising concern in Brazil? After experts scrutinized 732 of these cases they found that more than half either weren’t microcephaly, or weren’t at all related to Zika. Whew!
Better Safe Than Sorry
Even if you are at low risk, there are steps you can take to decrease your odds of contracting Zika. If you are traveling to or live in countries with mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus, avoid mosquito bites as much as possible. This includes minimizing skin exposure, staying in cooler, closed areas that are mosquito-free, sleeping under bed nets if your sleeping quarters may have mosquitoes, and, of course, using proper insect repellent. Caution each day keeps the Zika away!
