Written by Raakhee Suryaprakash
What is Zika?
Zika
virus disease is caused by a virus transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes [The ones that bite
during the day and carry an array of “return gifts” including dengue, yellow
fever, chikungunya, etc.].
People with Zika virus disease usually have
symptoms that can include mild fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and
joint pain, malaise or headache. These symptoms normally last for 2-7 days. The virus is cleared from the system one to two weeks after infection. It was First
identified in 1947 in Uganda.
Olympics
and Zika
As
I write this I fried several dozens of mosquitoes with my electric-net bat. I
am sure I could give tennis, badminton and fencing Olympic champions a run for
their money with my fancy moves with the mosquito-killing bat. The personal
aside, mosquito-vector born diseases are a serious threat to public health the
world over just by the sheer ubiquity of the mosquitoes. Brazil under the
shadow of the Zika virus threat when it is set to host its first Olympics is
similarly plagued. There is no preventive measure or cure for the Zika virus
yet other than trying to avoid getting bitten by the infected mosquito. Which
is easier said than done!
Guillain-Barré
syndrome (GBS) is an uncommon sickness of the nervous system in which a
person’s own immune system damages the nerve cells, causing muscle weakness,
and sometimes, paralysis.
No
wonder the high-earning top golfers and tennis players are pulling out of their
national teams and deciding to skip the Olympics. Unlike less-popular sports
for which this is the biggest and most prestigious arena and showcase, the
Olympics is not a huge money-spinner for the tennis stars and golfers who have
packed schedules across the globe. While Rio and Brazil have come through the
Carnival period with no unusual international outbreak of the Zika virus, calls
remain to put off the Olympics although preparations are on all over to send
national contingents to South America, with India sending its largest ever
team. After all this Zika outbreak has put 2 billion people at risk of
contracting the virus – a worrying figure even though most adults recover it
after a rash or a fever with only rare cases of the virus causing severe
neurological diseases. News headlines read that a flu outbreak would be a more
worrying problem than Zika during the Olympics.
The
Olympics and other such international events are used as stage by the State to
showcase itself and by non-state actors to showcase their problems by
protesting at the venues. In the case of the Zika virus at the time of the Rio
Olympics and added dimension is highlighting the hurdles to women’s health in
Brazil.
While
the scientists at biotechnology and pharmaceutical giants (in UK, USA, France,
Brazil, India, and Austria, whose stocks soar following announcements of
possible cures) are hard at work to finding a cure for Zika virus disease (Research
is on to defeat the Aedes mosquito with sterile genetically modified ones or by
infecting the deadly mosquito with a bacteria that’s deadly to it – the
sterilizing Wolbachia.) amidst
producing accurate diagnostic kits the South American states meanwhile have
placed the burden of preventing public health and socioeconomic crises on
women.
According
Brazil’s health ministry January 2016 report, 3,893 cases of microcephaly have
been recorded since 2015 with the state of Pernambuco accounting about a third
of that. An alarming statistic considering that in 2014 there were only 150
cases across the whole of Brazil! The response to tackle this has included a
health advisory to Latin American women not to get pregnant, Colombia’s
condom-distribution campaigns targeting women, and El Salvador’s attempt to
discourage all new pregnancies until some magical date in 2018. All this keep
in mind happening in a Catholic-majority region where abortion mostly
considered a sin or a crime with harsh sentences for the pregnant women who opt
for it. Add to this the high cost of birth control and the lack of access to
modern methods of birth control or even basic healthcare in remote regions with
at-risk indigenous populations living next to stagnant fresh water (breeding
grounds for mosquitoes) and the problem intensifies.
Light at
the End of the Tunnel
Thus
the Zika outbreak is at least raising awareness on the plight of women’s health
in the region and opening up dialogue about women’s rights over their own
bodies. Perhaps a little of the funds generated out of the Olympics will go
toward private or public initiatives to improve the quality of these women’s
lives.
While
the state is carrying out an impressive effort in the face of its precarious
economy and the fact that about 85% of mosquito breeding sites are inside
people’s homes perhaps this outbreak will also change people’s attitude and
policies regarding women’s health, women’s rights, access to healthcare,
disposal of garbage and care for the environment! For the “Darth Nino” that
cause record-breaking temperatures and extreme weather across the globe also
had a role to play in adding to mosquito-breeding puddles in a region that had
eliminated the Aedes invasion with a thorough DDT programme way back in the
1970s.
So
perhaps in the midst of this threat to Latin American and world health and the
burden the complications of this outbreak could pose on the future economy
perhaps there is a window of opportunity to challenge patriarchal notions,
improve the status of women and healthcare as well as improve policies towards
the environment.
References
