On the Front Lines of the War Against the Zika Virus

On the Front Lines of the War Against the Zika Virus

Puerto Rico is the most recent country to become actively infected by the Zika virus. This is especially important to the U.S., as Puerto Rico is the front line in the U.S.’s battle against the Zika virus. The virus is expected to thrive in the tropical landscape of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico and the U.S. aren’t taking things lying down, though. They are hoping to take advantage of the early stage of the virus’s spread to the territory and wage all out war.

Puerto Rico already barred citizens from donating blood, set up a registry of every pregnant woman on the island to monitor their health, and increased efforts to eradicate the mosquito carrying the virus. The Puerto Rican governor has already declared the virus a public health emergency and requested $250 million in aid from Congress to help battle the virus. The CDC has already sent almost 40 health workers to aid those in Puerto Rico.

With the early detection of the Zika virus spread in Puerto Rico, the CDC is using the island as a sort of test bed for studies on the Zika virus. With the strong public health and medical infrastructure already in place to combat the threat of the Zika virus, the CDC believes that they are in the perfect position to learn more about the virus and answer important questions while they are fighting its spread. Basically the CDC is using Puerto Rico as a test subject to study the full lifecycle of the spread of the disease…oh well, at least it’s not us playing the guinea pigs.

Do you think this controlled study of the Zika virus from its initial stages of spreading towards later stages will provide some useful information about the Zika virus?