‘No Zika cases so far’

CHRISTOPHER MAJALIWA in Dodoma

THE government has allayed fears over Zika virus outbreak which has currently hit some parts of the world, insisting that so far there is no case registered in the country.

Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu told reporters here that the country is still free from the deadly Zika virus.

Zika virus is an emerging mosquito-borne virus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys through a monitoring network of sylvatic yellow fever. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this virus was subsequently identified in humans in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania.

Outbreaks of Zika virus disease have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific. Minister Mwalimu said that WHO was conducting an emergency meeting today to decide whether the Zika threat should be rated a global health crisis.

Currently, she said districts and regional medical officers have already been directed to file daily reports from all health centres to identify if there is any case reported.

Speaking on the symptoms, Ms Mwalimu said that disease’s indication were similar to other arbovirus infections such as dengue, and include fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise, and headache.

These symptoms are usually mild and last for 2-7 days. “When one feels these symptoms, he or she should go to hospital as soon as possible,” she advised. She added; “however there is no specific medicine for treating the disease.

Our health facilities will only deal with treating these symptoms.” The Minister explained that Zika virus is transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito from the Aedes genus, mainly Aedes aegypti in tropical regions.

This is the same mosquito that transmits dengue and yellow fever. Prevention and control, according to the minister, relies on reducing mosquitoes through source reduction and reducing contact between mosquitoes and people.

“This can be done by using insect repellent; wearing clothes that cover as much of the body as possible, using physical barriers such as screens, closed doors and windows; and sleeping under mosquito nets.

It is also important to empty, clean or cover containers that can hold water,” she narrated. Latin America remains the mostly hit, with experts hinting that the disease could be a bigger threat to global health than the Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people in Africa