Zika Virus: Colombia Reports First 3 Death Cases Due to Infection

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Colombia has reported three Zika-related deaths. Patients who died have contracted a related disease that causes paralysis and attacks the nervous system, The Guardian reported.

Health officials from Colombia said that the Guillain-Barre syndrome has caused the death of five people, three of which were diagnosed with the Zika virus. The first death came last year on November and the two other deaths happened in the past week, Time reported in an article.

Colombia has the second highest count of Zika confirmed cases with around 20,500 infected patients. Neighbouring country Brazil has the highest number of Zika, a virus that has been linked to microcephaly, a birth defect that causes abnormally small heads among babies.

The Guardian also disclosed that Colombia has registered 100 cases of the Guillain-Barre syndrome. It is believed to be related to the mosquito-borne Zika virus. Health minister Alejandro Gaviria warned that cases of the Guillain-Barre syndrome have not responded positively to traditional treatments of immunoglobulin. After his meetings with health ministers from Latin American countries, Gaviria said that "mortality is high."

The World Health Organization has already declared the Zika virus as an "international public health emergency." This declaration will trigger funding and further research to solve the outbreak. It will also help raise resources to prevent a pregnant woman from contacting the disease and bring massive effort for mosquito control to stop the virus from spreading.

US News reported that America and Colombia has recently teamed up to speed up the research for the Zika virus. President Barack Obama announced that the United States and Colombia will have a joint research to discover a vaccine. This declaration came after Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos visited the White House.

"The White House says the two countries will share epidemiological information and specimen samples in hopes of better evaluating the potential link between Zika and birth defects," the report stated.

In the US, Texas has confirmed six cases of the Zika virus, all of which returned home after they travelled internationally. There has been no local transmission of the disease that has been reported.

Local officials said that there's no clear vision on how the Zika virus would affect the US especially since window screens and air conditioning is more common in the country. But America remains vigilant in preventing the Zika from entering their territories.

Colombia's National Institute of Health and The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will partner together in an effort to prevent and stop the spread of the Zika virus.