Even though there has been heavy media coverage on Zika, which has been spreading throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, a new survey found that many Americans still do not know much about the mosquito-borne virus.
According to the survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC), 42 percent of people thought that Zika infections led to either very or somewhat fatal health consequences, and 44 percent of the people believed that an infected person would know if he or she has Zika because of its noticeable symptoms.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that an infection is mild and typically resolves on its own. In the majority of the cases, around 80 percent, symptoms, which include a fever, rash and conjunctivitis, will not even manifest.
"It's critical that [the] public understand that it's possible to have and, as a result, to transmit the virus while showing no symptoms," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the director of APPC at the University of Pennsylvania. "Health officials and the media need to more clearly communicate that fact."
Being aware of the exact risks involved with Zika is important, especially since the virus has been linked to Guillain-Barré syndrome and the birth defect microcephaly. Since symptoms might not show up, pregnant women who believe that they could have transmitted the virus should be seeking out medical care.
The survey also found that more than 50 percent of Americans were afraid that Zika could reach their neighborhoods. Although the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Margaret Chan, has stated that Zika is "spreading explosively" throughout the Americas, there has yet to be a single confirmed case of locally transmitted Zika within the continental U.S. All of the cases so far have been in Americans who had traveled to a Zika-affected region.
Forty-four percent of the survey responders also believed that populations of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is the only species known to carry Zika, exist in every single state. The CDC reported that the Aedes aegypti mosquito could mainly be found in the southeastern region of the U.S. and in Hawaii. It can carry other viruses, such as dengue and chikungunya.
This survey, which was the fourth one in the series conducted on Zika, reached 1,019 people between March 2 and March 7.
