{"id":113711,"date":"2016-02-18T08:43:13","date_gmt":"2016-02-18T06:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/113711\/did-african-travellers-introduce-the-zika-virus-to-brazil-its-highly-unlikely\/"},"modified":"2016-03-10T07:44:37","modified_gmt":"2016-03-10T05:44:37","slug":"did-african-travellers-introduce-the-zika-virus-to-brazil-its-highly-unlikely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/news-headlines\/2016\/02\/18\/did-african-travellers-introduce-the-zika-virus-to-brazil-its-highly-unlikely\/","title":{"rendered":"Did African travellers introduce the zika virus to Brazil? It’s highly unlikely"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Brazil,\u00a0404 babies\u00a0were born with\u00a0microcephaly<\/a>\u00a0in 2015 \u2013 a disorder in which a foetus\u2019s brain does not develop properly in the womb —\u00a0with thousands more cases under investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Rio de Janeiro and Christ the Redeemer — Image by \u00a9 Imageplus\/Corbis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of those, 17 babies were infected with the zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease, and 76 have died. Due to these developments, the World Health Organisation\u00a0declared the zika outbreak<\/a>\u00a0a \u201cpublic health emergency of international concern\u201d earlier this month.<\/p>

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Health authorities are investigating whether zika, which was first discovered in Uganda, is\u00a0behind the rise in microcephaly<\/a>, and fingers have been pointed at African tourists for bringing the virus to Brazil. NPR\u00a0reported earlier this month<\/a>\u00a0that \u201csome doctors speculate it could have come with African visitors during the 2014 Football World Cup\u201d.<\/p>\n

Two doctors from the Sa\u00f5 Paulo Institute for Tropical Medicine\u00a0wrote\u00a0<\/a>that it was the \u201cstrongest hypothesis\u201d for the outbreak of zika in Brazil.<\/p>

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Why were Africans under suspicion?<\/h2>\n

The Brazilian health authorities have not responded to numerous inquiries from Africa Check about whether they initially blamed African tourists for the zika outbreak, and whether they still do.<\/p>\n

The closest that Africa Check could find was\u00a0a statement by Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff<\/a>: \u201cThe zika virus, transmitted by mosquito, has no nationality. It began in Africa, spread throughout Southeast Asia, the Oceania and is now in Latin America. And this was an exceptionally fast process, from last year.\u201d (Note: This was translated using Google Translate, so excuse our Portuguese.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

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How did the zika virus get to South America?<\/h2>\n

In\u00a0a communique on the zika virus<\/a>, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases says: \u201cOne could speculate that numerous introductions of either infected mosquitoes or infected travellers are necessary before a foreign arbovirus can become established in a new area, because the virus needs to be introduced into a capable vector population as well as host population.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Image by \u00a9 Flavio Forner\/Xibe Images\/Corbis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Asked how the virus could have arrived in Brazil, Failloux told Africa Check that it was more likely that it was brought by an infected traveller: \u201cWe cannot completely exclude an infected mosquito taking the plane [\u2026 but the] main and more realistic way to transfer the virus from one continent to another is through infected people.\u201d The virus also causes no symptoms in 80% of cases, she said.<\/p>\n

However, no countries from zika-virus-endemic Pacific countries competed in the 2014 Football World Cup, Didier Musso from the\u00a0Institut Louis Malard\u00e9<\/a>\u00a0in Tahiti, French Polynesia,\u00a0noted<\/a>\u00a0in a journal article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shortly thereafter though teams from the Pacific regions of French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Cook Islands and Easter Island – where the zika virus circulated in 2014 – competed in an international canoe sprint competition in Rio de Janeiro, Musso pointed out.<\/p>\n

But even this is not a direct link to the current zika outbreak because it is possible that zika arrived in Brazil before that.<\/p>\n

The first zika case in Brazil\u00a0was confirmed with a laboratory test in May 2015<\/a>, but \u201cthere were reports of ‘dengue-like syndrome’ occurring before this time,\u201d the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Africa Check.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is more likely that the virus was already circulating and causing illness prior to May 2015, but had not been recognised as zika until later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conclusion: Highly unlikely that an African traveller introduced zika to Brazil<\/h2>\n

Although the zika virus was first detected in Africa, three distinct strains of the virus now exist: the west and east African, and Asian. The Asian strain has been confirmed as the cause of Brazil’s zika cases.<\/p>\n

It is possible that the virus was brought by an infected traveller \u2013 possibly from Oceania which had the first documented cases of zika outside of its endemic areas in Africa and Asia \u2013 during a sporting event, whether it was the 2014 Football World Cup or an international canoe sprint competition shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n

It is, however, possible that the virus was present in Brazil before these events, and was misdiagnosed.<\/p>\n

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Credit:\u00a0Africa Check<\/a>, a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and the media.<\/p>\n

Follow them on Twitter @AfricaCheck<\/a>\u00a0or visit www.africacheck.org<\/a><\/p>\n

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