Will Zika virus take care of itself? Can Zika virus heal itself?

Zika virus will heal itself in most cases. Most adults have no symptoms after infection, and only about 20% will have symptoms. After the symptoms appear, they will heal themselves within a week, so it is not a disease that needs special attention. But this disease is a threat to pregnant women, pregnant women and babies, so parents still need to pay more attention.

Will Zika virus heal itself? Zika virus can be cured. It was isolated in Uganda, Africa in the 1940s. The reason why it has not been paid attention to is mainly that scattered mild cases have been caused over the years. After being infected, most people do not show any symptoms, and only about 1/5 people will get sick. Most people have mild symptoms after being infected with this disease. In the medical field, this disease is called self-limiting disease, which is characterized by fever, rash and joint pain. Generally, it does not need special treatment, and it can heal itself in 4 to 7 days. Therefore, it is not surprising that the public in China has not heard of this virus.

However, if pregnant women are infected with Zika virus, it may lead to neonatal microcephaly or neonatal death. Early treatment of neonatal microcephaly can lead to early rehabilitation. If you miss the best treatment time, it may cause sequelae of brain development disorder.

What happens when a mosquito carrying Zika virus kisses you? After a person is bitten by a mosquito with Zika virus, it takes about 3 to 7 days to get sick. Most people have mild symptoms, such as fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, general fatigue, headache, etc., and they will heal themselves in 2 ~ 7 days. Recent studies show that the virus infection may lead to nervous system and autoimmune complications in a few people, and microcephaly may occur in the fetus after infection in pregnant women.

How to distinguish Zika virus from common cold? Li Jiandong: The clinical manifestations of Zika virus disease are not particularly specific, but it is still different from the common cold. First, its rash is more obvious, while the rash of the common cold is relatively less. There is also joint pain, and some small joints are prone to joint edema, which is also obvious. On the other hand, compared with most viral diseases, Zika virus disease is difficult to be diagnosed simply from clinical manifestations. Mainly according to the patient's travel history, see if he has been to the epidemic area, mainly some countries in South America and Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia and Cambodia. After being bitten by mosquitoes, Zika virus disease often occurs when you come back. But laboratory diagnosis is still needed, because it may also be dengue fever or chikungunya fever. When such patients seek medical treatment, they should promptly tell the doctor whether they have been to Southeast Asia or America within two weeks.

Protect yourself and stay away from Zika. Although there is no vaccine and no specific medicine, the disease can be effectively prevented by preventing mosquito bites.

Where is Zika virus? Zika virus appears in tropical areas with a large number of mosquitoes and is known to be prevalent in Africa, America, South Asia and the Western Pacific.

Zika virus was discovered in 1947, but only sporadic human cases were found in Africa and South Asia for many years. In 2007, the first recorded outbreak of Zika virus disease occurred in the Pacific Ocean.

Since 20 13, related cases and epidemics have been reported in the western Pacific, America and Africa. Because mosquitoes can survive, urbanization and globalization have expanded the breeding environment, and Zika virus disease may occur in big cities around the world.

How to strengthen protection when traveling to virus-endemic areas? Ni Daxin: Since 20 15, Zika virus disease has been reported to spread locally in 36 countries and regions, 28 of which are in America, such as Brazil, Colombia, Honduras, Venezuela and Samoa. In addition, there are some island countries in the Pacific and Caribbean and Cape Verde in Africa. Southeast Asia includes Thailand and Maldives. Judging from the current situation, the number of cases reported by Thailand and Maldives is still very small. Many of these countries are popular tourist countries. If you want to travel to these areas, you should pay special attention to prevent mosquito bites. From the perspective of self-protection, you can wear some light-colored long clothes and trousers, and you can spray mosquito repellent on the exposed parts. In addition, we should pay attention to the protection in the house. For example, where there are many mosquitoes, we try to live in an environment with screen doors and screens or mosquito nets. If there is air conditioning, adjust the air conditioning to a suitable temperature to avoid mosquito bites. If you work in these places and stay for a long time, you should also pay attention to the indoor and outdoor environment where you live, and often clean up stagnant water to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. These methods can effectively prevent mosquito bites and Zika virus infection.

How are people infected with Zika virus? People can be infected with Zika virus after being bitten by infected Aedes mosquitoes-this mosquito is the same type of mosquito that spreads dengue fever, Chikungunya fever and yellow fever.

Are Aedes mosquitoes that spread the virus distributed in China? Ni Daxin: There are two kinds of Aedes aegypti in China. One is Aedes aegypti, which only exists in Hainan, Guangdong Leizhou Peninsula, that is, Chaozhou, and a few areas in Yunnan, such as Xishuangbanna. In addition, it was also found in Taiwan Province province. The other is Aedes albopictus, which is widely distributed in China. From Liaoning in the northeast to Hebei, Shanxi and Shaanxi, to the southernmost tip of Tibet, you can draw a diagonal line. Aedes albopictus exists in the southeast provinces of this line. No Aedes albopictus has been found in the north of this line, so there is no need to worry about these areas. For the southern section of this line, the disease control department is strengthening the monitoring arrangement of mosquito vectors and constantly understanding the number of Aedes mosquitoes in various regions through monitoring. If it reaches a certain warning line, the government will organize everyone to control mosquito vectors through patriotic health campaigns and reduce the risk of transmission.

What are the symptoms of Zika virus disease? Zika virus usually causes mild symptoms. Symptoms will appear within a few days after people are bitten by infected mosquitoes, and most patients with Zika virus disease will have mild fever and rash.

Others may have conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and fatigue. These symptoms usually disappear after 2-7 days.

What are the possible complications of Zika virus? Because there was no record of large-scale Zika virus epidemic before 2007, little was known about the complications of this disease.

Zika virus disease first broke out in French Polynesia on 20 13-20 14. Dengue fever also broke out at that time. During this period, it was reported that Guillain-Barre syndrome increased abnormally.

This effect is being investigated retrospectively, including the potential role of Zika virus and other possible factors. In 20 15, when Zika virus first appeared in Brazil, the increase of Guillain-Barre syndrome was also observed.

In 20 15, local health authorities in Brazil also observed an increase in the number of babies with microcephaly at birth while Zika virus was prevalent.

Among other possible factors, health authorities and institutions are currently investigating the possible relationship between microcephaly and Zika virus. However, before we can better understand any possible connection, further investigation and research are needed.

Can pregnant women's infection lead to microcephaly? Ni Daxin: Compared with normal children, the development size of newborn or fetal head differs by more than two standard deviations. If it is obviously small, medically speaking, he has microcephaly. The intelligence, behavioral ability and life span of microcephaly children are seriously affected, and many microcephaly babies die within a few years after birth. Microcephaly is usually caused by viral infection or other exposure during brain development. Alcohol, poison and other factors may also lead to microcephaly. The occurrence of microcephaly is mainly in the places where Zika virus is prevalent, especially in Brazil. Brazil reported a significant increase in microcephaly cases since 20 15. From October 20 1 1 year 10 to February 20 16, 13, a total of 5280 suspected cases of microcephaly were reported, which is quite alarming, because Brazil reported one or two hundred cases every year in previous years. At present, the international community is investigating microcephaly in Brazil. After reviewing more than 300 cases of 1, among them, 42 1 cases, that is, 1/3 cases were diagnosed as microcephaly, which means that there may be problems in other diagnoses, which are not true microcephaly, and less than 10% of the cases have evidence of Zika virus infection.

At present, experts from the World Health Organization highly suspect that microcephaly is related to Zika virus infection, but there is no conclusion and it is still under investigation. It is worth noting that the number of microcephaly suspected to be related to Zika virus in other countries is very small, and all cases are sporadic, such as Colombia. Up to now, although there are more than 20,000 cases of Zika virus infection, no microcephaly suspected to be related to Zika virus has been reported, so the final conclusion remains to be seen.

Should pregnant women pay attention to Zika virus? At present, the possible relationship between pregnant women infected with Zika virus and their babies with microcephaly is being investigated. Before getting more information, pregnant women or women planning to get pregnant should pay special attention to self-protection to prevent mosquito bites.

If you are pregnant and suspect that you may be infected with Zika virus, please see a doctor during pregnancy and monitor closely.

What is microcephaly? Microcephaly is a rare disease, and the baby's head becomes abnormally small. This is caused by abnormal brain development in utero or during pregnancy.

Infants and children with microcephaly usually encounter brain development difficulties when growing up.

Microcephaly can be caused by a series of environmental and genetic factors, such as Down syndrome; Intrauterine contact with drugs, alcohol and other toxins; And rubella infection during pregnancy.

How to treat Zika virus disease? The symptoms of Zika virus disease can be treated with commonly used analgesic and antipyretic drugs, rest more and drink more water. If the symptoms worsen, the patient should seek medical attention. There is no cure or vaccine for this disease at present.

How to diagnose Zika virus disease? For most patients diagnosed with Zika virus disease, this diagnosis is based on their symptoms and recent medical history (for example, mosquito bites or going to areas where Zika virus is known). Laboratory diagnosis can be made by blood test.

How can I protect myself? The best way to prevent Zika virus is to prevent mosquito bites.

Preventing mosquito bites will protect people from Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever, Chikungunya fever and yellow fever.

For this purpose, it may be necessary to use insect repellent;

Wear clothes that can cover your body as much as possible (preferably light-colored clothes);

Physical barriers such as gauze and closed doors and windows are adopted;

Sleep under a mosquito net.

In addition, it is more important to empty, keep clean or cover containers that may store water, such as buckets, flowerpots or car tires, to remove places where mosquitoes can breed.

Should we avoid traveling to areas where Zika virus exists? Travelers should keep abreast of Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases. If in doubt, please consult the local health and tourism departments.

In order to protect themselves from Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases, everyone should take the above measures to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes. Pregnant women or women who plan to get pregnant should follow this suggestion, and they can also seek the opinions of local health departments when they go to areas where Zika virus epidemic occurs.

Based on the available evidence, WHO does not recommend any travel or trade restrictions on Zika virus disease. As a preventive measure, some governments may make public health and travel suggestions to their own people based on their own estimates of existing evidence and local risk factors.

When can I use Zika virus vaccine? Li Jiandong: Now many countries have started vaccine research, and China is also actively implementing vaccine research. According to the estimate of the World Health Organization, the earliest application of the vaccine may take another year and a half, because the vaccine needs strict safety evaluation and clinical verification. This will take a long time, because vaccine development is a complicated process. It is necessary to evaluate its safety and effectiveness to ensure that most people can have a protective effect and have no serious side effects before it can be popularized in the population. In addition, the future application prospect of Zika virus vaccine depends on the results of our further observation and research on this disease, such as its epidemic breadth, whether this disease will undergo serious changes in the future and so on. And the cost performance should also be considered comprehensively.