(Source: Agência Brasília/flickr)
The New York State health department has announced that it is expanding free Zika virus testing to pregnant women who had unprotected sex with a partner who has traveled to a Zika-infected area, underscoring the mounting concerns in the U.S. over the virus that is plaguing South America.
Blouin News previously clarified questions around the Zika virus, including where it has been identified, and how it has proliferated around the world. The World Health Organization and other health groups have called for funding to combat the virus, which has contributed to a spike in birth defects and a neurological disorder that can lead to paralysis and death.
While incomparable to Ebola in its level of global proliferation, Zika is also starkly different in its death count. Because the virus itself is not directly fatal, the death rates of Zika infections are far lower than those of Ebola. That said, the W.H.O. estimates 3 million to 4 million people across the Americas will be infected with the virus in the next year, and it has life-threatening implications.
Still, comparisons are being made to Ebola mostly in the context of how slow governments and agencies have been to react to the virus that has gouged Brazil’s poorer populations.
And, unfortunately, Zika is just one of a host of problems Brazil is currently trying to handle in the months leading up to the Olympics. Blouin News’ Michael Lerner explains how the growing economic strife and environmental issues are plaguing a country already in crisis mode.
