US Pharm. 2016;41(2):8.
Geneva, Switzerland—The World Health Organization (WHO) expects the Zika virus, which is currently spreading through the Americas, to affect between 3 and 4 million people. The spread of the mosquito-borne disease had gone from a mild threat to a “public health emergency of international concern.” Zika has been linked to microcephaly, a neurologic birth defect in which infants are born with abnormally small heads. There is currently no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is closely related to dengue and chikungunya. It causes mild fever, rash, and red eyes, but an estimated 80% of infected persons have no symptoms, making it difficult to diagnose in pregnant women. The hardest hit country has been Brazil, which has seen a 30-fold increase in children born with microcephaly since 2010.
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