Zika virus: it has been in Nigeria - Health Minister
Twenty Five percent of Nigeria’s population have tested positive to
the dreaded Zika virus currently ravaging the South American continent.
The Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Folorunso Adewole who made the revelation while defending the 2016 budget of the Ministry of Health said the virus is not taken serious because Nigeria is not interested in it.
He said: “I want to say that Zika has been with us since 1954. About 25% of Nigerians are positive to Zika virus but what has happened is that it has done nothing to us.” ;
Zika virus according to the Centre for Disease Control, spread to people through mosquito bites. The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon.
Meanwhile, a study by J Hyg (Lond). 1979 Oct;83(2):213-9. Zika virus infections in Nigeria: virological and seroepidemiological investigations in Oyo State. revealed Neutralization tests showed that 40% of Nigerians had Zika virus neutralizing antibody. Fifty per cent of zika virus immune persons had neutralizing antibody to Zika alone or to Zika and one other flavivirus.
A total of 121 sera had antibody to Zika virus; of these 48 (40%) also showed antibody to two other flaviviruses, and 12 (10%) had antibodies to three or more other viruses. The percentage of neutralizing antibodies to other flaviviruses in Zika virus immune sera was 81% to Dengue type 1, 58% to Yellow fever, 7% to Wesselsbron, 6% to West Nile and 3% to Uganda S.
The Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Folorunso Adewole who made the revelation while defending the 2016 budget of the Ministry of Health said the virus is not taken serious because Nigeria is not interested in it.
He said: “I want to say that Zika has been with us since 1954. About 25% of Nigerians are positive to Zika virus but what has happened is that it has done nothing to us.” ;
Zika virus according to the Centre for Disease Control, spread to people through mosquito bites. The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon.
Meanwhile, a study by J Hyg (Lond). 1979 Oct;83(2):213-9. Zika virus infections in Nigeria: virological and seroepidemiological investigations in Oyo State. revealed Neutralization tests showed that 40% of Nigerians had Zika virus neutralizing antibody. Fifty per cent of zika virus immune persons had neutralizing antibody to Zika alone or to Zika and one other flavivirus.
A total of 121 sera had antibody to Zika virus; of these 48 (40%) also showed antibody to two other flaviviruses, and 12 (10%) had antibodies to three or more other viruses. The percentage of neutralizing antibodies to other flaviviruses in Zika virus immune sera was 81% to Dengue type 1, 58% to Yellow fever, 7% to Wesselsbron, 6% to West Nile and 3% to Uganda S.
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