The Zika virus is visiting the Red City!

Today my daughter, a university student majoring in speech therapy, who's undergoing a professional training at the Mohamed IV hospital, told me that she saw a case of a Zika virus infection. I didn't know when that this kind of infections has arrived to Morocco, nor in which parts of the country the first infections are and how people get infected by it. So I decided to ask the google search engin and see if I can find something. The first article I found was from the Bledi.net, written in February 12th 2016, which stated that "No case of Zika virus-related disease has been recorded in Morocco, the Ministry of Health said in a statement" in its headline. Indeed, another website Aujoud'hui le Maroc stated that "The Ministry of Health wants to reassure the Moroccans. According to a communiqué sent on Friday 11 March 2016, no case related to the virus is to be reported on Moroccan territory." But what is Zika virus? one good thing to know is that Zika is not at all the same as Ebola, since the vast majority of people who catch him, being bitten by an infected mosquito, do not even realize it. But this virus can cause a serious congenital malformation in newborns when it affects pregnant women {look at the photo below}. And the current epidemic is likely to be very difficult to control.

The Zika virus is transmitted by a bite of a tiger mosquito. There is currently no treatment. According to the WHO, the development of a vaccine could take more than a year. Initially, it is a rather mundane disease, except for pregnant women. The Zika virus is strongly suspected of causing microcephaly in the fetus, which could eventually lead to mental retardation. But to my surprise I found an article that says "The Zika is an arbovirus, its transmission is through stings of blood-feeding animals such as tiger mosquitoes of the genus Aedes (aegypti or albopictus). Similar to dengue or yellow fever, Zika was first identified in 1947 in a monkey in a forest on Lake Victoria on the Entebbe Peninsula in Uganda." But what amazes me most is how the continent of Africa is to blame of all the serious diseases, killers such as AIDS. Poor continent the richest, the poorest and the deadliest... It's not until 2014 in Brazil and during the World Football Cup that the virus become known to the populations. During this period, the country receives thousands of tourists from all over the world. Among them, individuals of African and Asian origin, inhabitants in areas affected by intense strains of the virus.

I found it odd how the virus was hiding itself in the African continent and it wont be deadliest until watching football games in Brasil. Maybe the mosquitoes in Brazil didn't like the yellow color of the Brazilian football team T-shirts. Later on, the whole American continent will get infected by the virus except Canada which is still safe (The mosquitoes don't like the cold I guess). For more information about the history of Zika watch the following video:

So what should we think about this virus? Should we get paranoid? Scared? Should we close all the windows in our house, offices and cars? Can we still go picnicking in forest and mountains? I found the answer with Dr. John Bergman in a YouTube video (watch below). Generally, what Dr Bergman is saying that we live in a world exposed to all sorts of infection and people tend to over react to epidemic diseases because they are basically being pushed to think that way by large organizations that control most of the vaccines and medical support. So after all the Zika does exist and someone wants to get rich by making a deal with the mosquitoes. Just a simple thought...