DOH Looks Into Other Modes Of Zika Transmission

The Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday that it is looking into different modes of transmission of Zika Virus infection as a way to alert the general public and at the same time, provide them with the important things they should know in guarding themselves from the virus.

According to Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy, DOH Spokesperson, the DOH was also looking after the possible transmission of the Zika Virus Infection which is currently reported in some countries where the cases wherein there are incidents of Zika virus.

“Lahat ng posibleng paraan ng pagsalin ay tinitingnan ng DOH nang sa gayon ay makapagbigay tayo ng ating measures kasama rin yun,” Dr. Lee Suy said in an interview with the media.

Lee Suy added that the link of sexual transmission is not remote since there was a documented case of a male (in other countries) who has a travel history in a country where he got the Zika virus and transferred that to his wife (has no history of travel to 29 countries where Zika was recorded) through his “semen”.

He said that there were also some related studies that supported the claim that Zika could stay in the semen.

On the part of the women, he said that transmission from women to men is unlikely because females are normally the recipient of seminal fluids from males in the process of sexual intercourse.

He said that said aspect was being looked into because the DOH, as part of its protective measures, had earlier advised women, who are pregnant and planning to get pregnant, to refrain or postpone their plans to travel in the countries where Zika virus infection cases existed to ensure that they could refrain from having babies with microcephaly.

As a protective measure also, DOH Secretary Janette L. Garin had earlier said that the DOH was providing some form of contraceptives for those who wanted to have the choice of delaying their pregnancies, especially if they were in areas where there were many mosquitoes and afraid to get pregnant in the event of Zika infection made an entry into the Philippines.

The Health Spokesperson added that another factor that is currently being look into is transfer via blood transfusion.

“Kasama din sa minomonitor sa mga bansang apektado ngayon ay ang dugo na sinasalin –kaya siguro sinasama ang blood transfusion ay dahil siguro may documented cases din sila,” he added.

He said that as an important measure, inclusion of blood screening was vital.

“Kung meron zika di ka dapat magdonate ng dugo lalo na kung galing sa lugar (with Zika Virus)…Kasama dapat sa screening yun lalo na kung ang donor ay galing sa lugar na may zika and intend to donate some blood-kailangan isama sa pagtetest and screening of Zjka,” he added.

At present he insisted that DOH had never stop coordinating with other government agencies in terms of guarding the entry of Zika in the country through requiring arriving passengers from Zika infected country to accomplish health declaration checklist for easier monitoring and encouraging them to seek testing in case they suspect that they are “carriers”.

DOH had also intensified its action by mobilizing its force on training of health workers in its major six hospitals in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to have knowledge on how to use the handling of testing kits for “suspected cases” provided by the Center for Disease and Control Prevention from Atlanta.

On top of it all, he repeated that the most important thing that public should be aware of is going to the basic protective measure of keeping their environment clean which can be done by remembering and practicing consistently the “4S”.

The 4S means Search and destroy mosquito breeding places; use Self-protection measures; Seek early consultation for fever lasting more than 2 days, and Say yes to fogging when there is an impending outbreak.

“Let us make it a practice and instill cleanliness in our surroundings. It is not only your family that will benefit from this habit, but the entire community,” the DOH spokesperson added.

He admitted that since the vector that can possibly transmit the Zika virus infection is the same mosquito (aedes aegypty) that is also present in the country is a recognition that the “threat” is existing because “sources” that may come (from Zika infected country) can possibly get in anytime which needs concerted action to fight.

He said that detection would be harder because almost 75 percent of those who had Zika virus infection did not manifested symptoms such as influenza-like manifestations.

He said that Zika virus infection gained worldwide attention and declared by World Health Organization (WHO) as a global health emergency because of the possibility of “complication” that Zika could bring to babies whose mothers were recorded to have had Zika Virus infection during their pregnancy period.

At present the Zika virus infection link to thousands of babies birth defects (microcephaly) especially in Brazil are still in an on-going study.

Microcephaly is a condition wherein the baby has an incomplete brain development making baby’s head look so small because of the improperly-developed brain.(PNA) RMA/LSJ