Should You Be Worried About The Zika Virus?

Should we be worried about the Zika Virus here in the United States, the short answer is no. Keep in mind I am not a Doctor nor do I even play one on the radio. Heck I didn't even sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night, I did however take the time to read a few articles about the Virus and I feel pretty good about our situation here in America.

It's funny you see all of these headlines and you can't help sometimes getting a little concerned about the latest "outbreak" or "Virus", the important thing to realize however is that a lot of the time these headlines are "click bait" and the truth of the story is a lot less menacing.

First what is the "Zika Virus"? according to the Center for Disease Control, "Zika virus is spread to people through mosquito bites. The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon."

Clearly this is not very scary right? So why the fuss? Well, one of the problems is that some scientists and Doctors think that it may be linked to a birth defect in babies called, microcephaly a rare condition in which infants are born with abnormally small heads and damaged brains. The important thing to remember here is that this is unproven and is there is only a "casual " link between the the two.

The other concern is how easily and far the "virus" is being spread and that may indeed be true but according to an article in the New York TImes, NOT here in the U.S.," About 31 cases of the virus have been reported in 11 states plus the District of Columbia since 2015, but all of those patients were infected in countries where the virus is widespread."

The truth is unless you are planning a trip to Brazil, you should be fine! So tell the "end of the world" co worker with the hand sanitizer, tissues and mosquito net around his cubicle to calm down.

I still hate mosquitoes though.