Zika Virus Destroys Entire Human Bodies of Men, Women and Infants

By the first week of August 2016, we found that Zika was killing infants in Texas and causing a rare joint disease called "arthrogryposis" that severely limits the movement of joints in babies.

Already, Zika had been linked with extremely small infant brains, neurological diseases like the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome, debilitating infections in adults, and sexual infection like an STD. This was not to be the end of negative affects.

JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association. August 16, 2018.316(7):702.

"Physicians are finding a wider range of congenital abnormalities beyond microcephaly that appear to be associated with Zika virus infection in utero, observations that suggest the presence of a new congenital syndrome, according to a report from the World Health Organization (Costello A et al. Bull World Health Org. 2016;94[6]:406-406A).

Zika-related abnormalities include craniofacial disproportion, spasticity, seizures, eye problems, irritability, brain stem dysfunction, and neurological problems that range in severity are being observed in infants born with normal head circumference.

Zika infection may also cause problems in cardiac, digestive, and genitourinary systems in infants."

The largest error in research is the tendency for people to connect one thing with another thing, even when no connection exists. Sometimes, we just cannot determine what causes what.

Sometime in the mid-20th century, researchers noticed that the increase in the number of telephone poles in America correlated with an upswing in the number of heart attacks occurring in the country and perhaps with an increase in stress related conditions and diseases overall.

Telephone poles were not causing more heart attacks.

However, the stress of more frequently occurring telephone communications, including sales and bill collection calls, unwanted gossip and similar calls, and increases in business dealings post-WWII were more likely one of the causes of increasing numbers of heart attacks and an increasing percentage of the population suffering from them.

Now, we think that an increase in Zika infections is linked to increases in microcephaly cases and at least one addition condition, but is that link real? A $1.8 Billion funding request from the Obama Administration may or may not determine the answer and may or may not come up with a vaccine.

By February 5, 2016 the World Health Organization had recommended that governments of nations affected by Zika transmission offer women reproductive advice, abortions, and contraception options, even if these elements were not culturally usual or widely promoted previously. This includes largely Catholic countries.

Sperm banks, blood banks, organ/tissue banks, and similar facilities took up a policy of refusing donations from individuals visiting Zika-affected countries for 28 days after their return from these places.

Central and South America and the Caribbean Islands have been hit by not only endemic by epidemic infection of Zika virus during Winter 2015 - 2016.

Amid a flurry of media reports, a Puerto Rican physician appeared on WOSU Radio on February 3, 2016 in order to present accurate information (Please see "Incidence Rates" below).

On February 2, several online and radio reports contained the assertion that only one Zika case had been found in America, in Dallas, and it was contracted through sexual activity.

On the same day, the online site Hellawella was misquoted on the radio, supposedly stating that the USA had, in fact 20 Zika cases. The statement was actually that 20 Latin American countries suffered cases of Zika infection from May 2015 through January 2016, and that "some" cases had been found in the USA, with widespread infection to be unlikely. The information about Zika infections was muddied to the point that people in Ohio became fearful, calling radio and TV stations for information and guidance.

Conspiracies Emerge

By the fourth week of February, many Americans felt that GMO mosquitoes designed to mate with the target mosquito carriers of Zika and create offspring incapable of carrying the virus were actually spreading the virus, possibly at the command of national governments, including the USA.

Meanwhile, pockets of people began to think that the Zika scare was a false foundation for increasing the numbers of abortions of Hispanic populations - including black Hispanics - and of funneling $1.9 Billion in research funding proposed by the US Administration into dark ventures.

The admonitions of leaders to women to avoid sex while the Zika scare was active were taken by some as attempts at population control.

Serious limitations began to affect the collection and use of donated blood and body tissues in the medical community.

The 2016 Rio Summer Olympics leadership felt the threat of loss of attendance among both athletes and tourists.

Whose report will we believe -- Will we suffer a Zika Apocalypse? Something worse?

The Mayo Clinic has traced Zika infections back to 1947 in Zika Valley, Africa in the years after World War II.

Some conspiracy theorists in Ohio link this virsus with German, Japanese, Chines, and American war experiments and we hear such rumors throughout the Ohio Space (and Aviation) Corridor from Cincinnati through Dayton and into Columbus. Wright Patterson AFB, NASA installations, and local universities consistently study human health and diseases in depth, so rumor is expected..

We have no cure for Zika infection yet, but symptom treatment consists of rest, fluids, and acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Aspirin is not to be used, since this may as be dangerous for all as it is for children when taking aspirin during flu bouts (specifically for developing Guillain-Barre syndrome under age 18).

Diagnostic testing is often valuable in detecting cases of viral and bacterial infection, but not always. Limited resources are a problem in some areas, like Southern Ohio. Another problem is that not all physicians in the West know about Zika.

The medical specialist on WOSU reported that women possibly exposed to Zika have little recourse. Very often they exhibit no symptoms and diagnostic testing is done only by public health departments and the CDC. However, some physicians are gaining access to the testing necessary: blood tests and urine tests.

With no cases yet found in the Buckeye State, physicians in Southern Ohio ordered hundreds of test kits for Zika virus infection on February 3, 2016. The southern counties of the state are historically the least well-provided for in healthcare services. Meanwhile, hospitals across Ohio are preparing to test individuals for Zika infection by ordering test kits, but are also distributing information about how to avoid the virus.

The OSU website states: "Peter Piermarini, an entomologist with the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University, is available to speak with the media about the mosquitoes that transmit Zika virus."

The usual rate for microcephaly, which we think is linked to Zika, is only about 2-3 per 10,000 births. In Puerto Rico, this would amount to about 8-10 cases per year. However, that nation experienced 18 cases of Zika infection from December to the end of January alone. The health department is awaiting births of babies in these cases.

Microcephaly is the condition in which an infant has a significantly small skull and a small, very undeveloped brain. Unfortunately, this rare condition gave rise to the slur "pinhead" in the early 20th century and the term was used by such popular comedians as The Three Stooges.

Microcephalic babies were once part of circus and carnival sideshows ("freakshows"), but they did not live very long. Some oldsters alive during those days informed me that a few of these unfortunate babies were taxidermied and kept by certain carnivals. Today, this is illegal.

Women often show no symptoms or only joint pain and a mild rash. That could be any one of a number of mild diseases and conditions. Zika is even called "mild dengue fever", but to me, that is like calling it "mild black plague" if zika is responsible for thousands of dying babies..

The most common symptoms of Zika include the fever, rash, and joint pain mentioned. Headaches can occur. However, the conjunctivitis (infected red eyes) can be extremely painful in my experience. Cases last about a week or less - but the birth defects are atrocious, if these defects are actually a result.

We also do not yet know whether additional birth defects or damage to other organs besides the newborn brain result from Zika infection.

This recalls the Baby Boom German measles outbreak in the 1950s, which was responsible for over 70% of the cases of Autism Spectrum Disorder just now being diagnosed in the babies of that boom. The common link is that over 70% of those affected were in the womb when their mothers had German measles, a mild disease like Zika.

Should you attend the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Brazil? Should you vacation in the American South (Texas and Florida), the Carribean, or Latin American countries? These are a good questions.

If you have questions or concerns about Zika infection, please ask your physician, nurse practitioner, or other qualified healthcare provider.

Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2016;47:6–7; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

• Physician Alert -- Zika virus intrauterine infection causes fetal brain abnormality and microcephaly: tip of the iceberg?

- Many cases have been diagnosed in nine Brazilian states as of late January 2016.

The Guardian

• Zika virus spreading explosively, says World Health Organisation; January 28, 2016.

US News & World Report

• CDC Urges Pregnant Women to Postpone Travel to Avoid Risk of Zika Infection; January 15, 2016.