Excerpt via Essay:
Epidemiology in the News: Occurrence and Frequency of the Zika Virus
Healy (2016) information in the D. A. Occasions that experts are currently pursuing five tricks of dealing with the Zika virus. Before credit reporting on these types of strategies, Healy provide an epidemiology of the disease, beginning with it is first reported incidence in 1947 in Uganda. From Africa, Healy shows that the virus propagate to Asia and the Unites states. Connected to the propagate of the disease is the area of issue “whether instances of microcephaly followed in the wake yet were hidden at the time” (Healy, 2016). To determine the connection of microcephaly to Zika, the island of Yap was studied simply by epidemiologists, whom noted that in 3 years ago “between 68% and 88% of residents over the age of a couple of were afflicted with the virus” (Healy, 2016).
Yap provides a useful means of studying the condition because island nations just like Yap, that happen to be small and isolated, allow researchers an opportunity to observe how a virus like Zika interacts with people over time. Thus, the effects of the virus could be studied with an almost control-like view. However , just because you cannot find any indication of incidence of microcephaly doesn’t mean that there is absolutely no connection – it could simply indicate that there have never been great records held.
At the same time, Healy notes that we now have other inquiries that epidemiologists must cause – including, “Have birth defects been absent before mainly because Africans and Asians have got lived with Zika intended for so long that almost all expecting mothers have developed defenses to the disease? “
This article concludes together with the assertion that more study is essential and that researchers are evaluating the history from the virus along with possible vaccines that could support immunize.
When considered together with the work by simply Gordis (2014), possible complications with the measurements involved in this case could be the fact that number of cases in Yap, for instance, are too tiny – or the population test is too little.
Point frequency and period prevalence are issues that could possibly be problematic in such a case as the spread in the disease or how it migrated is usually unstated and the points where it entered the residential areas is almost determined. Today’s manifestations as well as the correlations together and microcephaly are mentioned in the popular media nevertheless epidemiologists will be uncertain whether there is a relationship or not because the data that is available
