By STELLAR MURUMBA, smurumba@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- US health officials say efforts to create a Zika vaccine are getting “somewhere” from lessons learned during earlier battles against other mosquito-borne viruses.
- Kenyan health experts say no reported cases in Africa so far and that there is no cause to worry.
- The Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes, which are vectors of the virus, bite both at night and during the day.
A Zika vaccine could be ready for clinical trial as
soon as this this year, but will likely take years before the vaccine is
ready for the market, US health officials have said.
The Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, was speaking to CBS news and
journalists from the international media.
Dr Fauci said efforts to create a Zika vaccine are
getting “somewhere” from lessons learned during earlier battles against
other mosquito-borne viruses.
“We are working on two potential vaccines, each
based on earlier vaccines created in response to prior outbreaks of West
Nile virus and dengue.
“It is to our advantage that we already have
existing vaccine platforms to use as a sort of jumping-off point but it
is important to understand that we will not have a widely available safe
and effective Zika vaccine this year, and probably not even in the next
few years,” said Dr Fauci.
The World Health Organization Thursday held a
special forum on the Zika virus which it says is most likely to spread
to not only most countries in Americas but also across the globe.
Kenya "safe"
Kenya health experts however say that the country is “safe”.
The head of disease surveillance and response unit,
Ian Njeru, said that the real concern of the virus - which is named
after the Zika forest in Uganda where it was first discovered - is the
microcephaly (a brain disorder) condition in babies born with it but
which in itself is very mild.
Babies with the condition have abnormally small heads, resulting in developmental issues and in some cases, death.
“The virus is very mild. Four out five victims
survive. So far we do not have any reported cases in Africa and we
should not worry so much about it,” said Dr Njeru in a television
interview.
WHO Chief Margaret Chan said, meanwhile, that Zika
is "spreading explosively" and it could affect many countries in the
world including Kenya.
Dr Chan said in the special gathering that
preventing mosquitoes from breeding and protecting yourself from
mosquito bites is the best protection.
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