ZIKA VIRUS INFECTION: IMPORTANT CONCERN
Abstract
Dear Editor,The articles on Zika virus infections in the journal are very interesting.1,2 Shoaib et al. noted for the “importance of preventive public health measures at the community level and avoids travelling to the endemic areas.”1 Abbasi noted that “prevention can be a multi-pronged strategy” and “these entail vector control interventions, personal protection, environmental sanitation and health education among others.”2 Indeed, Zika virus infection becomes the important public health issue at present due to its worldwide spread. Focusing on the suggestion on avoidance travelling to the endemic areas, it can be useful. But the real present problematic situation is the imported infection from both returning travellers and foreigners who carry diseases from endemic areas. The public health measure has to start at the immigration port. In case of China, the strict control can early help detect the infected case at Taipei and this can result in success in disease control and cessation of further local transmission in Taiwan.3 For the local people in endemic area, the prevention of disease might be very difficult. The Zika virus infection can be asymptomatic and transmission by mosquito to others easily occurs.4 Though many mosquito control process are set, they are usually ineffective. The important concern is the infection is usually mild and the main problem is usually on the reproductive age female. Another effective preventive measure that should not be forgotten is the use of contraception.5References
Shoaib M, Faraz A, Ahmed SA. 'Another vector borne challenge to combat-zika virus outbreaks'. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad 2016;28(1):210–1.
Abbasi AU. Zika virus infection; vertical transmission and foetal congenital anomalies. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad 2016;28(1):1–2.
Huang AS, Shu PY, Yang CH. A new reportable disease is born: Taiwan Centers for Disease Control's response to emerging Zika virus infection. J Formos Med Assoc 2016;115(4):223–5.
Wiwanitkit S, Wiwanitkit V. Afebrile, asymptomatic and non-thrombocytopenic Zika virus infection: Don't miss it! Asian Pac J Trop Med 2016;9(5):513.
Roa M. Zika virus outbreak: reproductive health and rights in Latin America. Lancet 2016;387(10021):843.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Journal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad is an OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL which means that all content is FREELY available without charge to all users whether registered with the journal or not. The work published by J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad is licensed and distributed under the creative commons License CC BY ND Attribution-NoDerivs. Material printed in this journal is OPEN to access, and are FREE for use in academic and research work with proper citation. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad accepts only original material for publication with the understanding that except for abstracts, no part of the data has been published or will be submitted for publication elsewhere before appearing in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. The Editorial Board of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and authenticity of material printed in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. However, conclusions and statements expressed are views of the authors and do not reflect the opinion/policy of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad or the Editorial Board.
USERS are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.
AUTHORS retain the rights of free downloading/unlimited e-print of full text and sharing/disseminating the article without any restriction, by any means including twitter, scholarly collaboration networks such as ResearchGate, Academia.eu, and social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar and any other professional or academic networking site.
