As Zika virus swiftly becomes an alarming global pandemic disease with exposure to the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same insect that transmits dengue fever and the said virus, a new scientific research has recently revealed that the United States' comfortable standard of living makes a large-scale outbreak of Zika virus unlikely to happen. Study lead author Max Moreno-Madrinan, who is also an assistant professor with Indiana University-Purdue University Fairbanks School of Public Health in Indianapolis has claimed that most Americans would usually take the limited access through the widespread access to clean water sources, air conditioning, screened doors and windows, and as well as other household amenities for granted but these are actually their first layer of defense against Zika virus. Hence, he reveals that the virus is not likely to gain a foothold in the United States as compared to what happened in Brazil and other Latin countries.
Why Zika Virus Not Likely To Take Place In The US
According to reports revealed by UPI, it was found out that more than 80,000 people in 69 countries have allegedly been infected with the deadly virus during an outbreak that has reportedly originated in Brazil in 2015. Moreno-Madrinan explains that this kind of prevalence that is seen from various mosquito-transmitted diseases like Zika, especially in places with poor socioeconomic conditions is very likely to happen due to the suitable climatic conditions in the geographical areas that these countries occupy and the associated cultural practices prevalent in such countries.
However, in one of their statements reported by How Stuff Works, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has highly emphasized that despite this finding, that doesn't mean Americans who put away their passports are immune from contracting Zika, as more than 16,800 Zika infections in the United States and its territories have already been reported.
Ultimately, it was found out that an investigational Zika vaccine which is currently being developed by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institutes of Health has recently entered its clinical trial phase. Scientists say that the vaccine that is being developed uses a genetically engineered DNA in order to encode Zika virus proteins, which consequently prompts the body to produce an immune response against the Zika virus.
