How serious is Zika virus?

Yellow Fever, West Nile, Chikungunya, Dengue and Zika are all caused by a virus
caused by mosquitoes. But unlike of those viruses, there is no medicine nor vaccine
to prevent Zika virus.
Mostly, Zika Virus is transmitted when a mosquito bites a person with active
infection and spread the virus by biting others. The symptoms of this virus are mild,
including fever, headache, rash and possible pink eye. Usually, because of its mild
symptoms, an infected person doesnt even know they have the disease.
What concerns today is that a pregnant woman who has been infected, the virus in
her body can pass through the amniotic fluid of the growing baby and may result to
the microcephaly of the baby.
Microcephaly is a neurological disorder that results in babies being born with
abnormally small heads. This causes severe developmental issues and sometimes
death.
In addition, there have been documented cases of virus transmission during labor,
blood transfusion, laboratory exposure and sexual contact.
World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan said, The level of alarm
is extremely high which is why they are telling everyone to be informed about Zika
virus. A zika outbreak now reaches twenty four countries all over the world. Without
proper prevention of possible spread of transmission, Zika cases will emerge in all
places where mosquitoes are present.
In the Philippines, there are several cases of Zika virus. The recent case is a 45year-old woman who lives in Iloilo City, says Dr Eric Tayag, spokesperson of
Deparment of Health (DOH).
With these cases, diseases and deaths, we can say that zika virus is a serious
illness. How can we prevent this? Simply, by cleaning our surroundings so it would
be free from mosquitoes. Not travelling to infected areas will also protect everyone
against this dreadful virus.