Nigeria at Risk of Zika Virus

With the recent alarm raised by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control that the Zika virus vector is widely circulating in Nigeria, experts are of the opinion that the government must step up measures against the deadly disease. Martins Ifijeh writes When Brazil, in June last year experienced an outbreak of Zika virus, a relatively unknown pathogen, not many people referred to it as a public health challenge requiring utmost priority, until it took a new turn and was becoming deadly, forcing the World Health Organisation (WHO) in February 1 this year, to declare it an international health emergency, requiring new and urgent tool to eradicate. But as Nigerians continue to see it as American and Asian health challenge, recent development suggests Nigeria and other malaria endemic nations are at risk of the deadly virus since its transmitter, the Aedes mosquitois a common strain of the mosquito family known to exist in Nigeria and other countries battling with malaria. In fact, in a more direct statement by the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Zika virus is already widely circulating in the country. Shockingly, he said there was the absence of continued surveillance or periodic national surveys, with the epidemiology of the virus still poorly understood in the country. Though an uncommon disease, it is not strange to Nigeria and Africa at large. In 1960, the country experienced the first human case of the virus, according to WHO records; that is 27 years after it was first documented in monkeys in Uganda, an East African country, known to be a breeding region for mosquitoes, just like Nigeria. But the world did not take the 76 years old virus seriously because its outbreaks were sporadic and tiny, and the disease seemed to do little harm to humans, until recently with its recent manifestation in South America and Asia, starting with birth deformities in newborn, among other clinical features.The virus. Source: Thisday