About the topic
Bio
About the topic
The landscape about this newest of Emerging Infectious Diseases is changing rapidly; for example, on 22 April OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) issued interim guidelines suggesting that all US employers with workers who spend time in the outdoors in a large part of the country provide them with effective mosquito repellents and advise them to wear protective clothing; which led the New York Times to suggest it “could impose a major burden on industries such as construction, agriculture, transportation, amusement parks and cafes, which employ hundreds of thousands of outdoor workers.”
The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta offers this introduction to Zika Virus Disease:
Zika virus disease (Zika) is a disease caused by the Zika virus, which is spread to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito. The most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting for several days to a week after being bitten by an infected mosquito. People usually don’t get sick enough to go to the hospital, and they very rarely die of Zika. For this reason, many people might not realize they have been infected. However, Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause a serious birth defect called microcephaly, as well as other severe fetal brain defects. Once a person has been infected, he or she is likely to be protected from future infections.
Zika virus was first discovered in 1947 and is named after the Zika Forest in Uganda. In 1952, the first human cases of Zika were detected and since then, outbreaks of Zika have been reported in tropical Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Zika outbreaks have probably occurred in many locations. Before 2007, at least 14 cases of Zika had been documented, although other cases were likely to have occurred and were not reported. Because the symptoms of Zika are similar to those of many other diseases, many cases may not have been recognized.
In May 2015, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) issued an alert regarding the first confirmed Zika virus infection in Brazil. On February 1, 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Zika virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Local transmission has been reported in many other countries and territories. Zika virus will likely continue to spread to new areas.
Specific areas where Zika is spreading are often difficult to determine and are likely to change over time. If traveling, please visit the CDC Travelers' Health site for the most updated travel information.
Bio
J. David Beckham, MD, is Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He attended Baylor College of Medicine in Houston where he also did his medical residency, and followed that with a Fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the University of Colorado. He is Board-certified in Medicine and in Infectious Diseases. At CU he is Director of the Infectious Disease Fellowship Training Program, and also Director of the Neurological Infections and NeuroImmunology Training Program. In recognition of his bread interests in infection, resistance and the nervous system, he has received joint appointments in the Departments of Immunology & Microbiology, and Neurology.
He says, “My clinical interests include general infectious diseases, HIV care and infections of the nervous system. We are also collaborating with Neurology to provide specialized consultation and care to NeuroAIDS patients. Our laboratory investigates the cellular mechanisms that viruses use in cells and neurons to cause disease. We work to identify these mechanisms and design novel drug therapies to treat viral infections in the nervous system. We also work to understand the role of alpha-synuclein, the protein that causes Parkinson's disease, in neuron injury and disease.” He is currently very active in research on the Zika virus.