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The Zika Virus
In the world of COVID19, there is a disease that we ignore at our own peril, Zika. If you were paying attention to the headlines, you might have heard about the Zika virus. However, do you know what Zika is and how it harms people? Can you identify the areas to avoid and the precautions to take to protect yourself if you need to go to those places?
In this article, we are going to examine Zika, it’s symptoms, and how it affects adults and the irreparable harm it does to children.
Zika is Worldwide
The Zika virus isn’t a disease found only in the developing world. Zika is found on continents of Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Caribbean, and the Pacific islands as well.
The world first became aware of the Zika virus when scientists were studying yellow fever in the Ugandan Zika forest in 1947 in the monkey population. The next year these same scientists found that the Zika virus was transmitted to the monkeys by the Aedes mosquitoes that lived in the region.
In 1964, scientists detected the first case of the Zika virus humans after researchers found antibodies for Zika in the blood of people living in Uganda and Tanzania in 1952.
Jump to 2013–2014, when the largest outbreak of the Zika virus to have ever occurred to date, took place. The location of the outbreak was French…