Zika Infections

Zika virus is another African arboviral illness first seen in monkeys in Uganda in 1947 but has moved onto the front pages recently as it is becoming established in the Americas.

1. Zika rarely causes serious illness or death.
2. Four of five people who get Zika virus won’t even know they are sick
3. Common symptoms of Zika include: fever, rash, joint pain, red eyes, muscle pain, headache
4. If you are pregnant and contract Zika, you do not have to feel sick to pass the virus to your unborn baby.
5. Contact your doctor if you have: fever, joint pain, red or itchy eyes, rash
6. Symptoms typically occur 2–7 days after a bite from an infected mosquito.
7. There is no specific medicine or vaccine for Zika virus. Treat the symptoms.
8. Clinical symptoms of Zika disease appear after an incubation period ranging between 3 and 12 days. The disease symptoms are usually mild and short lasting (2–7 days), and infection may go unrecognized or be misdiagnosed as dengue.

Zika is a disease spread by:

• Bite of an infected mosquito
• Infected woman to child during pregnancy
• Infected male to partner during sex

If you are pregnant when or soon after you contract Zika, your unborn baby may develop a severe birth defect known as microcephaly.  Microcephaly causes an unusually small head, brain damage, and often death.