Zika Virus

Introduction

From the growing concern that Zika Virus could cause major birth defects, the World Health Organization has confirmed the disease as a global public health disaster. This virus is mainly spread by mosquitoes. The Virus has been associated to various health outcomes (Torjesen, 2016). If there are no appropriate measures implemented, it is likely that the disease will leave more than four million people infected by the end of this year. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has asked pregnant women to avoid traveling to different countries especially those in the Caribbean and Latin America as the Virus is spreading. This paper will analyze how the government has implemented measures to curb the widespread of Zika Virus.

Responding to the Zika Virus

The government has taken measures to ensure that the Virus does not spread to America. Since 2015, the government has relentlessly made efforts to fight Zika Virus. For instance, the Federal government has been observing the virus and collaborating with both local and global public hearth partners to inform the public as well as the healthcare providers about the Virus. In addition, the administration has provided many public health laboratories with various diagnostic tests.

The Pan American Health Organization have reported that there are 26 countries in America with local Zika transmission. However, there has no reported case of transmission of Zika virus by mosquitoes within U.S territories. In addition, there are a number of Americans who have returned from countries such as Caribbean and Pacific Island which have been affected by the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention affirmed that about 50 laboratories have experienced cases of infected U.S from abroad since December 2015 (Torjesen, 2016). As summer approaches, the population of mosquitoes is expected to rise. Therefore, the government has to be fully prepared to take quick actions and address local transmission within Unite States, especially in the Southern United States. It must ensure that there is a thorough examination of those returning from abroad (Harrison, Harris, & Deardorff, 2015).

The government is taking effective measure to ensure that its citizens are safe. For example, the government is planning to allocate more than $ 1.8 billion that will help in a rapid respond to the Virus in both domestic and international level (Torjesen, 2016). This funding will enhance the preparedness by implementing appropriate strategies to combat this virus. For instance, this funds may be used to expand mosquito control programs; provide necessary education to health care providers, pregnant women; help in the procurement of vaccines as well as diagnostics; enhance epidemiology and expand laboratories in the health sector; and improve the health services and facilities to the public. With such strategies, the government will be in a better position to combat mosquitoes and control transmission (Harrison, Harris, & Deardorff, 2015).

Conclusion

There is a lot that people fail to understand about the virus and its relationship to the poor health outcomes that are reported in the Zika-affected places. Therefore, the government should collaborate with health care providers to aggressively investigate these outbreaks and spread of the virus, as well as mitigate it to the best extent possible. The planned funding requested by the Congresses will help to improve our ability on detecting, preventing, and fighting Zika virus and more so, boost our capacity to reduce any future possible infectious disease outbreak. Failure to this, we shall have increased the number of people infected by the virus thus expose more deaths to our children.

References

Harrison, B. C., Harris, J., & Deardorff, M. D. (2015). American democracy now. New York, NY : McGraw-Hill.

Torjesen, I. (2016). Zika virus outbreaks prompt warnings to pregnant women. BMJ, i500.