The Coming Zika Crisis
Earlier this week the World Health Organization warned that a mosquito borne viral disease known as Zika was fast spreading throughout the Americas. That includes the United States, which it will likely reach sooner rather than later.
Zika is rarely deadly, but it can cause some severe birth defects should a pregnant woman contract the disease when bit by a mosquito. Already in Brazil we are seeing a large number of these birth defects.
Zika is among a category of diseases that is called "neglected tropical diseases." And they are neglected largely because they have historically only affected the poorest people on the planet. But now, one of these diseases is fast spreading in middle income and wealthy countries and we are poised for a public health crisis.
On the line to discuss Zika and its larger public health implications is one of the world's leading experts in tropical diseases, Dr. Peter Hotez. He is the Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston; the Endowed Chair in Tropical Pediatrics Texas Children's Hospital; and President of the Sabin Vaccine institute, the work of which we discuss in this conversation.
This is an absolutely fascinating conversation about a topic that is clearly on many people's radars right now. We discuss how and why this disease is spreading, the lessons drawn from the ebola outbreak that can be applied to this situation, and how poverty and inequality in the USA might exacerbate the Zika outbreak?
If you have 20 minutes, want to understand the Zika outbreak and its broader public health implications, have a listen.