Most people think that the Zika virus is a new virus that has just struck people out of nowhere, when in fact it has been around for nearly 70 years. The Zika virus was first discovered by a group of scientist in 1947, in east africa. Stated in ‘’Zika virus for Essential Hospitals’’, Zika virus, named for its East Africa point of origin, a Ugandan forest, was first identified in 1947 and did not appear in humans until 1952 (‘’Zika Virus’’8). This helps you to grasp a better understanding on how the Zika Virus is not a new virus, but just an old one bringing forth a new threat.
The Zika virus was never studied in depth when it was first discovered in 1947, because it was not a big enough threat to people, so they never raised funds …show more content…
The virus causes two known birth defects, the first defect is known as microcephaly, which cause a irregularly small head at birth. The second defect is known as Guillain Barre syndrome, which is a condition in which the immune system attacks the nerves (‘’Zika virus’’8). This gives researchers a very important reason to put funding into researching the Zika virus.
The Zika virus is transmitted through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito. This brings a big threat into our lives, as we are in areas that consist of mosquitos frequently. Its most common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis: generally are mild and last from a few days to a week (‘’Zika virus’’8). With the Zika virus spreading like wildfire from mosquito to human, we have to be more onboard with promoting bug spray to protect against the bite of mosquitos.
Another concern of medical researchers, is the scare that the Zika virus may be able to be transferred from person to person, through bodily fluids, and maybe even sexual contact. It is not medically proven just yet (‘’Zika virus’’). With that it is crucial for researchers to find a vaccine, because people are sexually active every