Rise of Zika, sad reminder of war on elusive viruses
Organisation (WHO) has once again
declared a ‘Global Health Emergency of
International Concern’. This time it’s the
virus Zika – an organism previously little
known to most people – but already a
major cause for concern around the
globe.
The rise of Zika in the Americas now
comes as a sad reminder that viruses
may continue to threaten global health
security, with Africans, including
Tanzania, being no exception.
Historically, viruses have persistently
terrorised the world. Small pox, whose
viral strain led to the death of millions
of people across the globe, is a typical
example. It was finally eradicated in the
1970s.
That, however, did not mean an end to
the most threatening of all
microorganisms. In the 1980s, it was the
human immunodeficiency virus —
perhaps the most serious pandemic up to
this day.
After HIV, a series of other viruses have
continued to emerge and re-emerge, and
the list grows by day. If it’s not about
Bird flu in Asia, it’s the Lassa fever in
Nigeria, Mar bug in Uganda or dengue
fever in Tanzania. Scientists baffled
Evidently, health scientists are still
somehow baffled by the nature of the
viruses. They are still trying to figure out
the best way to tackle them and close to
the end of last year, a team of African
health scientists gathered in Arusha
Tanzania to devise ways of taming the
troublesome bugs.
All this happens at a time the world is
slowly recovering from the shock of an
Ebola outbreak in West Africa, where
more than 10,000 people died of the
viral disease in that region, according to
WHO figures.
Despite the fact that Ebola infections are
about to be brought down to zero in
West Africa, there is still no reason for
the world to relax. The viruses,
“notoriously smart” as they seem, they
never cease to amaze the world. They
would emerge and re-emerge, unless
something is done.
“They are somehow like terrorists. You
never know when they would strike,’’
one scientist, a leading Ugandan
virologist, Dr Julius Lutwama, reckoned
at the recent meeting in Arusha.
Dr Lutwama tried to explain to his
fellow scientists, how the viruses were
part of the ecosystem and how African
communities could be mobilised to
report the outbreak of some of these
viral infections immediately when they
emerge.
At the Arusha meeting, African
researchers called for the establishment
of a disease surveillance system that can
cope with the complex nature of viral
diseases on the continent.
There was clamour for immediate
interventions.
One scientist suggested that rural health
personnel, popularly known as
community health workers, could be part
of the solution. But they need training
before they are deployed to strategic
communities.
Early detection
This will have to be strategically
positioned in the remotest parts of
nations, where the potential of viral
outbreaks is higher for early detection.
Zika was not part of the agenda neither
was it mentioned at the Arusha meeting,
which was organised by Connecting
Organisations for Regional Disease
Surveillance (Cords).
Back then the virus had not yet attracted
as much attention as it has done over the
past few weeks. There was no serious
outbreak of Zika reported yet on the
continent. Ebola, Rift Valley Fever, H5N1
or Swine Flu and Dengue Fever,
somehow dominated the agenda.
It can be assumed that even if anyone at
the meeting had mentioned the word
Zika, it was perhaps in reference to some
studies previously done in Uganda, about
the emerging and re-emerging viruses.
Yet the virus is not a newcomer. Zika
virus was discovered about 70 years ago
in Uganda. But it was later found to
infect humans in Tanzania, Sierra
Leone, several other African countries,
and some parts of Asia.
But there are new fears following the re-
emergence of Zika in the Americas.
Allaying fears
However, Tanzania’s Health minister,
Ms Ummy Mwalimu, was quick to allay
public fears the virus would nor find its
way into Tanzania.
In the meantime, there is increasing
coverage of the spread and dangers
posed by the virus in local and
international media.
In Tanzania, previous studies show the
virus infected a section of the population
in the 1950s.
Researchers have noted that Zika,
Chikungunya and dengue have been part
of the country’s ecosystem for long. It
may be just a matter of time before such
viruses re-emerge.
About two years ago, when Tanzania
experienced an outbreak of the dengue
fever, many people struggled even to
grasp the name of the virus.
Studies had earlier indicated that the
virus was prevalent in Tanzania, five
years earlier than the outbreak.
In West Africa, when Ebola emerged,
authorities in the region were shocked.
It took long before they came to terms
with the emergence of a virus that was
previously thought to be of Congolese
origin.
But that’s how viruses operate. It should
not come as a surprise if the Usutu virus
-- identified in South Africa in 1959 –
causes another headache in the future,
be it in Africa, Europe or the Americas.
0 comments:
Post a Comment