Percentages of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) cases are soaring high in particular countries in Latin America. And GBS is now strongly linked to the current outbreak of Zika in this region of the globe.
Venezuela has 877 percent increase in GBS, as reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) research suggests that GBS is "strongly associated with Zika; however, only a small proportion of people with recent Zika virus infection get GBS."
It is not then necessarily true that patients with GBS have Zika virus and vice versa. But if a person is infected by Zika virus, there is a huge danger to suffer from GBS.
Some people thought that Zika virus just give a person rashes, fever, pain the eyes, joints and muscles, headache, vomiting and loss of appetite. To the surprise of many, GBS has now become a great addition to the list.
GBC is a "disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. The first symptoms of this disorder include varying degrees of weakness or tingling sensations in the legs, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorder and Stroke (NIH).
When pregnant, the baby from a Zika-infected patient will have microcephaly and some heart and lung diseases after birth. And when the carrier transmits Zika virus through sex or a mosquito bite from him or her to another person, the same suffering is passed on and this gives birth to a more terrible outbreak.
Zika virus gives both centripetal and centrifugal impact on the infected person and the people around him or her. It is not easy as there is still no perfect cure that will make his or her blood cleared from the virus. Some experimental vaccines have been made and are understudies, which will hopefully prove a success. But people around the world need not to depend on the vaccine today.
It is best to be extra careful not to travel to places where there are Zika outbreaks and it is also important to keep one's home clean and mosquito-free. Experts also advise everyone to avoid going to places where there are many mosquitoes because you really do not know if the person beside you is a Zika virus carrier already and the villain mosquito is just so ready to pass on to you a lifetime suffering.
