Zika virus is a virus from flavivirus family. It is carried by the mosquito that usually found in Africa, South America and SE Asia. The human that exposed to this virus usually will develop a fever after 3-12 days of the mosquito bites.

Identification

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Zika fever is belongs to other mosquito-borne fever which is dengue-like. The patient will show symptoms like fever, headache, occasionally nausea and vomiting, malaise, myalgia, conjunctivitis and photophobia. Culex and Aedes spp are the type of mosquito that likely to carry this virus and spread it to human.

Who Is In High Risk Of Zika Virus?

People who live in the outbreak area is in the high risk to get infected. Usually the living environment with high level of Breuteu Index, Aedes Index and Container Index is the target area for outbreak control.

If the housing area is not properly cleaned, has a lot of mosquito breeding places and the people has low education of Zika virus and how it’s spreading will add the risk more.

Preventive Measures

Save To avoid the spreading of Zika virus, we have to destroy or eliminate the breeding places of the vector, which is the mosquito. You can do it simply by:

Cleaning your house everyday and make sure it is free from breeding places and steady water. If you have water container, make sure it is covered well so the mosquito will not allowed breeding in it. If you have a pond, make sure it has mosquito predator like frog, tadpole or fish in the pond. Eliminate any garbage, tins, bottles that can contain water around your house or inside your house to avoid mosquito breeding. All garbage are needed to be disposed safely or you can use an incinerator to manage your garbage or waste. If your house has the natural breeding places or plants that can contain water such as the pineapple tree, cocoa tree, coconut tree, and bamboo tree, you have to make sure that the water that contained in the tree trunk, the cocoa shell or coconut shell is properly drained or cleaned to eliminate breeding places.

If you are living in the outbreak area, evacuate from that place is not that necessary if you are taking the epidemic measures such as:

Use the effective mosquito repellents during day and night to avoid the mosquito bites. You can use natural mosquito repellents like the lemongrass around your house and lemongrass essential oil to your clothes or body. You also can buy the approved mosquito repellents from the pharmacy. For sleeping, you can use the mosquito net to avoid from mosquito bite. You can use the UV light as the mosquito attractor at night and killing it at the same time. Eat a lot of nutritious food such as fruits, vegetables, and herbs to improve your immunity strength to fight against the virus that introduced to your body. If there is animals that suspected to have zika fever, do not slaughter it but send it to the veterinary for a safe elimination. If you found that your house has a lot of mosquito appearance, it might be come from the natural breeding places around your house. Identify the natural breeding places and then destroy it to eliminate the next cycle of mosquito born. If you are working in a plantation area, make sure that you use a long coverall and bring along the mosquito repellent with you while you are working. Mosquito is actively looking for food in the morning and night so during that peak hours you have to improve your control measures. If there is an abandoned house and the place is currently become a breeding place for mosquito, please contact the Health Department immediately for further actions. If there is a plantation that has a poor management for the waste disposal, garbage disposal, fruit shell disposal and such, you can contact the Health Department immediately for further actions. Every country has their own law and regulations to control communicable diseases including charging the owner that failed to keep their factory, plantation or property mosquito breeding free.

Get a Proper Medication

If your family member or friends are showing the symptoms of zika fever, please refer them to the hospital immediately for a proper treatment. The blood and the fluid from the patient need to be handled with precautions. Do not take any medicine before a full consultation from the medical practitioner.

References:

http://www.cdc.gov/zika/

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/zika/en/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zika_virus

http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/healthtopics/zika_virus_infection/Pages/index.aspx

http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/healthtopics/zika_virus_infection/Pages/index.aspx

http://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/zika-virus