PNG may have Zika already

The possibility of Papua New Guinea already acquiring the Zika Virus will be tested through old blood samples that were initially tested for other mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, chikungunya and dengue.

World Health Organization Epidemiologist, Dr. Boris Pavlin told PNG TV, who is engaged with the National Department of Health.

The old blood samples will be tested at the PNG Institute of Medical Research.

Dr. Pavlin says, “These samples were tested for other diseases like malaria or chikungunya, but now that we’re aware that we have this global Zika problem, we can go back and test those old bloods and see if they may have already had Zika.”

“PNG has never had an outbreak of Zika, but it’s entirely possible that Zika has been here because it’s such a mild illness, it’s possible that we would not have noticed it amongst other related symptoms it shares with malaria or chikungunya or dengue.”

“We don’t have the results from those tests yet, but we’ll let you know when we’ve conclusively established their findings,” Dr. Pavlin said.

Serology, a technology that identifies antibodies that have developed to help the body respond to harmful micro-organisms, will be used to detect Zika in these old blood sample tests.

But that may prove to be confusing, as explained by Dr. Pavlin.

“For instance, if I’ve had dengue in the past, you can test me and find that I have antibodies against dengue in my blood, which show that I must have been exposed to dengue in the past.”

“Now the problem for those with Zika, unfortunately is that they cross-react with some of these other diseases that are similar like dengue – we know we have dengue in PNG and that means that if we did the serology test, it would be very confusing to determine the difference between someone who had Zika versus someone who had dengue – it wouldn’t tell us very much,” Dr. Pavlin explained.

There is no vaccine or specific medicine to treat Zika, but the following symptoms of Zika that are treated include:

• Mild fever, joint and muscle pain, skin rash and red eyes.

• The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting for several days up to a week.

• People don’t get sick enough to go the hospital and people don’t usually die from Zika.

Dengue, chikungunya and malaria are mosquito-borne diseases that have already infected Papua New Guineans over many years, which means the immunity system of the infected have become stronger to defend the body against such diseases.

Theoretically and by virtue of Zika having some related symptoms as the mentioned diseases, the same antibodies could possibly combat Zika.

But Dr. Pavlin says there might be a peculiar link between Zika and dangerous diseases such as Macrocephaly which results in the human head being abnormally large and Guillain–Barré syndrome, GBS, which causes muscular paralysis.

“In late 2013, there was a very large outbreak in French Polynesia where there was an estimate 32’000 cases - they started to see more than expected of an unusual neurological condition that attacks the nervous system, called Guillain–Barré syndrome, which is a temporary paralysis and it will resolve on its own but can prove very dangerous if it affects your breathing muscles.”

“Although it wasn’t proven that the Zika caused GBS, there seemed to be a strong link especially with the timing.”

“In Brazil, some of the babies born with macrocephaly were tested and Zika was found in the baby and in the mothers fluids and while this does not conclusively prove that the Zika caused the macrocephaly, it posed an uncomfortable coincidence that was concerning enough for the World Health Organization to declare on Monday the Zika Virus outbreak, specifically in the context of GBS and Macrocephaly, constitute a public health emergency of international concern,” said Dr. Pavlin.

PNG TV