What you need to know about Zika (and who’s doing what about it locally)

Zika, the virus that seems to be causing birth defects in Brazilian babies, might spread into parts of the United States this summer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While an outbreak is unlikely to occur in Pittsburgh, government medical officials say that Zika should be on your radar if you’re pregnant, especially if you plan to travel.

What is Zika?

Pregnant women who catch Zika, especially in their first trimester, may give birth to a baby with an unusually small head. Doctors call the condition microcephaly, and it often comes along with brain damage. Because of this, pregnant women need to be especially careful about avoiding Zika.

For everyone else, Zika is considered a mild illness. Most people who contract it don’t suffer any symptoms at all. Those who do only experience a rash, joint pain and fever. Unpleasant symptoms to be sure, but not serious.

Zika is a fairly new virus, and it’s now circulating in 34 countries in south and central America, plus a few Pacific islands. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention keeps a list of these countries, and advises pregnant women not to travel to them. The governments of some of these countries have even advised residents to postpone pregnancy until public health officials can figure out a solution to the Zika problem.

What Allegheny County Is Doing

Not all mosquitoes can carry Zika, and the local health department is keeping tabs on the ones that do. The south American mosquito that spreads Zika, Aedes aegypti, does exist in the United States but doesn’t reach as far north as Pittsburgh. A related species, the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is rare here but was recently confirmed to be a Zika carrier.

Dr. Karen Hacker, director of the Allegheny County Health Department, says that the department is catching mosquitoes in traps to keep tabs on which species are flying around locally. If large populations of the Asian tiger mosquito appear, the county will start spraying for them, similar to what they did last year during a West Nile virus outbreak.

“We don’t want people to become super anxious,” says Dr. Hacker. “The chances of getting Zika, here in western Pennsylvania, are very low.”

Local researchers are also helping to stop Zika at its source. A new collaborative effort called Cura Zika (which means “Cure Zika” in both Portuguese and Spanish) is providing quick access to funding for Zika research through the University of Pittsburgh’s school of public health and a Brazilian biomedical research organization called FIOCRUZ.

Staying Safe

If you’re pregnant or if you might become pregnant soon, the first thing you should do to avoid Zika is to review your travel plans. If you have a vacation or business trip planned in a Zika-affected area, both the CDC and the Allegheny County Health Department caution you to stay home.

Men also need to pay attention: Zika can be transmitted sexually. Men who travel to a Zika-affected area should use condoms for eight weeks afterward, says the CDC, to avoid passing the virus via sexual transmission to their partner. Men may travel, be bitten by a zika-carrying mosquito without knowing it, and then be able to transmit the virus to their partner through sex after they return home. A man who comes down with Zika symptoms should consider himself contagious for six months.

 

Women, likewise, should wait at least eight weeks after a Zika infection before trying to conceive. Since Zika is so new, scientists don’t know a lot about it yet. The suggested timeframe is an educated guess. If you’re not planning to get pregnant, but you’re traveling to a Zika-affected area, make sure to use an effective birth control method.

Avoiding Mosquitoes

The main way Zika spreads is by mosquito. If one of these little bloodsuckers lands on a person who has the virus, they can transmit it to the next person they bite. So if you can’t avoid traveling to a Zika area, be vigilant about protecting yourself from mosquitoes.

Repellent sprays with DEET are very effective at keeping mosquitoes away. DEET is safe, even in pregnancy, according to the CDC, so don’t let squeamishness about chemicals keep you away from this smart move. Some repellents with other ingredients, like picaridin and oil of lemon eucalyptus, can also be effective. Consumer Reports has a list of the best repellents here. The top three: Sawyer picaridin, Ben’s 30% DEET, and Repel lemon eucalyptus.

A mosquito net over your bed is also a smart choice if you’re traveling to an area with lots of mosquitoes. While Zika is the disease making headlines, other viruses can also be carried via mosquito. In south and central America, for example, avoiding mosquitoes helps to protect you from a more serious illness called dengue.

If you think you may have contracted Zika, there is a test for it, but it’s not routine. Visit your doctor and make sure to mention about recent travel. If your doctor thinks Zika is a possibility, she can order a test through the health department, which sends it to a CDC lab. Dr. Hacker says that the county has helped 60 people get tested, and only one test came back positive. That person caught the virus while traveling.

What You Can Do

It’s always a good idea to keep your yard mosquito-free, even if Zika steers clear of our area. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in standing water, and baby mosquitoes go through a tadpole-like aquatic stage before they can take off and start biting. Even though you might not notice any adult mosquitoes now, they are beginning to find those puddles and lay their eggs.

“Eliminate the breeding areas,” says Joanna Patterson, owner of the Pittsburgh branch of insect control company Mosquito Joe. That includes “getting the blockages out of your drains and gutters. And watching for something like a tire that might be overturned that you may not even realize has collected water. Or a flower pot.” Patterson’s company sprays yards for mosquitoes and ticks using pyrethroid insecticides, which she says are very safe for humans.

These tips will help you avoid West Nile virus, which we do have locally; eliminating mosquitoes also means fewer itchy mosquito bites this summer.

As for Zika, it’s important to be informed and prepared, but there’s no need to panic.