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In the News: Brazil’s Effort to Control Zika VirusIn the last...
Reportage by Getty Images TumblrPhoto by Mario Tama/Getty Images
Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images
Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images
Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images
In the News: Brazil’s Effort to Control Zika Virus
In the last four months, Brazil’s authorities have recorded nearly 4,000 cases of microcephaly - an incurable form of brain damage - and have identified the mosquito-borne Zika virus as a likely culprit. Zika, a virus from the same family as dengue and West Nile, and with similar if milder symptoms, was unknown in Latin America before this year, and has spread rapidly among a population that lacks immunity. According to the World Health Organization, the virus is likely to spread throughout the Americas. Worries about its connection to microcephaly have led to strong warnings to pregnant women to avoid mosquito bites in affected regions. In Brazil, some authorities are encouraging women to delay pregnancy until the virus can be brought under control.
Getty Images photographer Mario Tama recently visited Recife, Brazil, where officials estimate that 100,000 people have been exposed to Zika, although most never develop symptoms. See more of Mario’s photos on National Geographic.
