‘Zika hard to differentiate from dengue, chikungunya’

Paul White

The Zika virus has almost the same symptoms as dengue and chikungunya, two viruses passed on by mosquitoes to humans, according to state epidemiologist Paul White, MSc, PhD, of the Public Health and Hospital Emergency Preparedness Office at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.

White, in yesterday’s update and situational awareness presentation of three of the nine types of arboviral diseases that are circulating in the region, said dengue and Zika are in the same family of viruses.

“But it is difficult to differentiate the three. We advise those who are experiencing joint pains and whose fever is on and off to see a doctor or go to the hospital. Get tested right away just a precautionary measure,” White told Saipan Tribune.

“This is just part of a wider engagement strategy, speaking and a core talk. We mentioned that we’re going to arrange a meeting with the Public School System. But we’ve already met with seaports and airport officials, and this meeting is with other government agencies.”

He said that while dengue, chikungunya, and Zika mostly have similar symptoms what differs is the person who is infected by the latter would suffer from conjunctivitis or pink eye.

Sudden high fever, sever headaches, pain behind the eyes, severe joint and muscle pain, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and skin rash that would appear two to five days after fever are dengue’s symptoms which is the same with Zika.

Chikungunya’s symptoms begin three to seven days after being bitten by an infected mosquito. Fever and joint pains, headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, and rashes are its common symptoms but after getting better a person who has been infected would be protected from future infections.

White, who previously worked for the United Nations and the World Health Organization, said screening arriving passengers at the airport or ship crew from the seaports are not a top priority. “It is hard to detect people with Zika virus.”

“Zika can’t be transmitted by a person to another person just by coughing like the flu. About 80 percent of people who have Zika are asymptomatic, which means they don’t know they have it. It is a condition of a person that shows no symptoms.”

Protocol in place

White said although airport and seaport screening is not their priority, a protocol is followed and in place with the help of a number of agencies.

“Airport and seaport screening is not a place where you typically find or identify people who have the virus. But we have worked with [the Commonwealth Ports Authority] airport police, and the immigration,” said White.

“We asked them to be on the lookout for persons who might have the symptoms. And we have a protocol that is in place where they would contact first the [Center for Disease Control and Prevention], which then would contact us.”

He added that CDC would be the first to be informed since the infected person, once he or she arrives on Saipan, is still under federal land before crossing immigration. “That is anyone who is still considered not in the CNMI yet.”

Before the outbreak in May 2015, which started in Brazil, Zika could infect a person after being bitten by a mosquito that carries the virus. But now it could also be transmitted sexually (see separate story on…)

“Primarily it is still a mosquito-transmitted disease. A mosquito bites and infects a person, then goes on to another, but as we have we’ve learned that Zika can be transmitted sexually from male to female and vice versa. And again, very recently, we learned that it could happen even if the person is asymptomatic.”