When Ebola hit and most people turned into hypochondriacs for a minute, I rolled my eyes. There were only four people in the entire United States who had it and there was no chance that I would get it from an elevator button or on the subway. This is why I am fascinated with the relatively low level of panic surrounding the Zika virus. Geographically, the epicenter of the outbreak is much closer to America and the infection rates are substantially higher than that of Ebola. What makes Zika interesting is the dichotomy between the symptoms of adults and children, and the effect this has on those who live in the main outbreak zones.
In adults, the symptoms are similar to the flu. You get a fever, a rash, conjunctivitis and sore joints. The symptoms are usually gone within a week. No one in the US has died from Zika. However, in newborns the virus is much more devastating. Among other things, it can cause microcephaly which is when the head of the newborn is substantially smaller than normal. This leads to “developmental delays, such as in speech and movement, difficulties with coordination and balance, dwarfism or short stature, facial distortions, hyperactivity, mental retardation, [and] seizures” according to Mayo Clinic. These are severe, lifelong symptoms that have caused the World Health Organization to advise that pregnant women do not travel to areas with the Zika virus or at least, to take extra care to repel mosquitos.
This report from the World Health Organization has caused countries like Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and El Salvador to encourage women to wait to have children until (as El Salvador recommended) 2018. This recommendation outraged people who saw the irony in a country that legally protects embryos from the moment of conception encouraging women to not have children. Not only are abortions illegal, but a woman who decides to abort her child can be charged with aggravated homicide and get up to 40 years in prison. This is the crossroads between health and culture. It’s fascinating to see how a country’s cultural (and in this case religious beliefs) affect the actions it takes in public health crises.
The Zika virus is forcing hard choices to be made, both on the level of the individual and the government. For a Catholic woman in El Salvador there are not many options. She may remain abstinent for two years, or if she gets pregnant must live in fear of getting bitten by a mosquito and getting the Zika virus. If this happens, even harder choices ensue. Should she risk getting an illegal abortion, risking her health, freedom and, as some say, soul? Or is it better to have a child that she might not be equipped to care for?
For the government, activists like Ángela Rivas are forcing them to reconsider their recommendation to delay having children without giving a means to make that choice. Rivas argues that the ban’s only effect will be an increase in dangerous and illegal abortions and their following incarcerations.
I am curious to see the way that Zika will propagate change. If only the mosquito knew that its whining buzz has caused a whirlwind of debate over reproductive rights. I sincerely hope that the Zika virus will cause those who oppose abortion to question this belief. As strange as it sounds that a mosquito could give millions of women control over their reproductive health, a very similar situation happened here in America in the 1960's.
Like Zika, the Rubella virus causes relatively mild symptoms in adults but causes heart disorders, death, mental delays, and even death in fetuses. At the time, abortion was illegal in the entire country and birth control was illegal in many states. There was an exception made for "therapeutic abortions," which are abortions made in cases where the mother was infected by the rubella virus. At the time, this was seen as insurance for a generation of healthy children, but it was an important step towards the legalization of abortion that came with Roe vs. Wade in 1973.
To be honest, it is disconcerting that in some cases it takes an international health crises to give women the right to control their own bodies. In the end though, it is the final result that is important. I hope that as long as people are getting sick, the mosquitos can impart some compassion in those who are against a woman's right to choose.
