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Scientific ignorance about Zika parallels Aids crisis in 1980s, say Brazilian experts
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Tuesday 2 February 2016 12.23 EST Last modified on Tuesday 2 February 2016 12.56 EST
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Wilson Savino, director of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro, said the current state of scientific ignorance around the virus and its effects resembles that over HIV ? the human immunodeficiency virus which gives rise to Aids ? in the early 1980s.
?Back then, the scientific and medical community did not know what was going on until many people had died and considerable research had been undertaken,? said Savino. ?Then it turned out to be a global health issue. In Brazil, although we have identified the Zika virus, we don?t know much about it compared with dengue or yellow fever. The degree of ignorance is comparable to what we faced 32 years ago.
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?The fear is real. The scare is real,? said G?bio Soares Campos, a virologist at the Biology Institute of the Federal University of Bahia who was one of two researchers who first identified Zika in Brazil last April. ?People have to really be careful right now because we do not yet know whether there will be other major consequences.?
Pregnant women needed to be very vigilant, avoiding mosquito bites especially in the first months of pregnancy, he said. ?We can?t confirm yet that only the Aedes aegypti is transmitting the disease. This needs to be investigated and scientifically proven. Those who affirm this are wrong, because the truth is that we don?t know. It could be transmitted by other mosquitoes,? he said.
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Scientists need to know whether it is possible to get Zika more than once, or if one infection conveys lasting immunity. ?It?s very important to know this now, more important than the vaccine,? he said. ? If people develop immunity, then most of the population will already be protected if there is another outbreak. This would put the government and the people a lot more at ease.?
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Claudio Maierovitch, director of the communicable disease surveillance department at the ministry of health, said that ?we don?t have any doubt about the link between Zika and microcephaly.
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Tuesday 2 February 2016 12.23 EST Last modified on Tuesday 2 February 2016 12.56 EST
...
Wilson Savino, director of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro, said the current state of scientific ignorance around the virus and its effects resembles that over HIV ? the human immunodeficiency virus which gives rise to Aids ? in the early 1980s.
?Back then, the scientific and medical community did not know what was going on until many people had died and considerable research had been undertaken,? said Savino. ?Then it turned out to be a global health issue. In Brazil, although we have identified the Zika virus, we don?t know much about it compared with dengue or yellow fever. The degree of ignorance is comparable to what we faced 32 years ago.
...
?The fear is real. The scare is real,? said G?bio Soares Campos, a virologist at the Biology Institute of the Federal University of Bahia who was one of two researchers who first identified Zika in Brazil last April. ?People have to really be careful right now because we do not yet know whether there will be other major consequences.?
Pregnant women needed to be very vigilant, avoiding mosquito bites especially in the first months of pregnancy, he said. ?We can?t confirm yet that only the Aedes aegypti is transmitting the disease. This needs to be investigated and scientifically proven. Those who affirm this are wrong, because the truth is that we don?t know. It could be transmitted by other mosquitoes,? he said.
...
Scientists need to know whether it is possible to get Zika more than once, or if one infection conveys lasting immunity. ?It?s very important to know this now, more important than the vaccine,? he said. ? If people develop immunity, then most of the population will already be protected if there is another outbreak. This would put the government and the people a lot more at ease.?
...
Claudio Maierovitch, director of the communicable disease surveillance department at the ministry of health, said that ?we don?t have any doubt about the link between Zika and microcephaly.
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