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The Zika Virus In The United States

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The Zika Virus

What is the Zika virus exactly? Have you heard of it before? Have you seen what it has done? It's just now starting to affect people in the U.S. The Zika virus is a usually mild disease that's transmitted through mosquitos. Most people recover, and severe illness or deaths from the virus are rare. The Zika virus is especially dangerous for pregnant women and their babies, and is thought to be spread around Central and South America to which pregnant women have been advised to not travel, because of results in sickness, and fatal birth defects in newborn babies. However many things are being done to fight the virus at all costs.
The Zika virus actually came from an ordinary creature, and is now floating from human to human, …show more content…

The World Health Organization (WHO) says as many as 4 million people could be infected in the next year in America. Subsequently, “On January 27th, Brazilian health officials reported a total of 4,180 cases since October 2015, and 287 more cases more cases a week earlier.” (Rosen 16). Health officials take a lot of time investigating many cases that have appeared in more than 20 countries, including the Caribbean, and Central and South America. The amount is rising more and more. In addition, the only places that were recorded to not receive the mosquito-borne virus were Canada and Chile, because of their lack of a large mosquito population. However, what does that mean for the …show more content…

All they do is drink your blood and leave you itchy right? Unfortunately for pregnant women that's not the case. The Zika virus has been linked to rare brain defects in newborn babies, and has women in Zika stricken areas and the health organizations around the world worried. Initially, “the threat of the Zika virus is the greatest in pregnant women as it is suspected to be linked with the incomplete brain development in babies known as microcephaly. It is also suspected to have caused some cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome”(Biesiada 1). The Zika virus for a normal adult is a mild disease, with the list of symptoms short. However, in pregnant women, it’s very harmful for newborn babies and fetuses. Microcephaly in babies is a condition where babies are born with small heads and sometimes small brains, the condition can also cause death. As well as Guillain-Barre syndrome, which also occurs in babies infected by the Zika virus,. Though very rare, the body's immune system attacks the nervous system, sometimes resulting in

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