‘NMI is still Zika-free’

Acting governor Victor B. Hocog signs the proclamation declaring April as “Fight the Bite” Month to continue raising awareness and cognitive knowledge of the Zika virus and other arboviral diseases. Zika is a virus borne by infected mosquitos. The CNMI, however, remains Zika-free. (Erwin Encinares)

The Zika virus, an arbovirus that is transmitted through mosquitoes, has been making its rounds in the CNMI’s neighbors, including Kosrae, the Marshall Islands, Palau, and American Samoa. Thankfully, since its first outbreak in Florida last August, the CNMI has remained Zika-free.

Warren Villagomez, the guy assigned to prepare the CNMI in case an outbreak does occur here, warns that once Zika is found in an area, as evidenced by other countries with Zika, it “would be very hard to eradicate.”

According to Villagomez in last Monday’s proclamation signing declaring April as “Fight the Bite” Month, it is essential for the whole community to know that allowing mosquitoes to breed easily is harmful.

Villagomez, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. director for Public Health and Hospital Emergency Preparedness Program Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity Program, urges the public to get rid of stagnant water around homes every week.

Other measures include removing trash and empty containers that could hold water regardless of the size; wear mosquito repellants; wear long-sleeved shirts and pants outdoors during dawn and dusk, and refrain from travelling to countries with Zika outbreaks while pregnant.

The Zika virus’ most harmful effects to the body are the birth defects caused by the virus. The virus is known to cause serious complications to the unborn baby, such as microcephaly and a rare neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre-Syndrome, or GBS.

Microcephaly is a condition where a newborn’s head is smaller than normal, causing a hindrance to the brain development of the child. GBS on the other hand, is an inflammatory disorder of the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord, causing one diagnosed with GBS to experience numbness in the hands and feet before developing further into something life-threatening as weakness may possibly develop in the breathing muscles.

“There is no vaccine against this disease and there is no cure for the birth defects as a result of the virus, so prevention is the only [solution],” said state epidemiologist Dr. Paul White.

“We have one of the mosquitoes that transmits Zika, but we do not have evidence that Zika is reported in the CNMI. We are the only jurisdictions in the Pacific [along with Guam] that does not have the arboviruses Zika, dengue, and chikungunya,” said White.

White said that entomologists, or scientists that specialize in insects, say that mosquito eggs could stay out of the water for about six months, so the need for constant supervision of the home is important.