Zika will not be noticed in Delhi.

The government of India is to issue a travel advisory, asking pregnant women not to travel to countries suffering an epidemic of Zika virus disease. Earlier the Indian Medical Association issued a similar warning to pregnant women. What is the Zika virus? Apparently it is a virus related to dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever which was first detected in monkeys in the Zika forest in Uganda. Hence the name. Monkeys are the natural reservoir, like in the case of the Ebola virus. There is some anecdotal evidence of the virus spreading through sexual liaison so the advisory should surely include men as well. And not just recently married young men. An old man may carry the virus back to India and then get bitten by an Aedes aegipti female who then spreads it to a young woman. Also Ascending Paralysis, or Guillain-Barre syndrome, can affect men as well as women and, as the name suggests, weakness usually starts in the legs and spreads upwards to affect respiratory muscles, requiring ventilation in an intensive care unit to keep the patient alive. Treatment is therefore very expensive. Logically, the advisory should include everybody. Trouble with the Zika is that 80% of people get no, or minimal flu-like symptoms, which they ignore, but it has a devastating effect on the baby, causing a small head or microcephaly. In that respect it behaves like the German measles or Rubella virus. The vaccine for the Rubella is included in the MMR vaccine and is mandatory for every baby. Apparently it is difficult to test for the Zika because it cross reacts with antibodies to dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. Anyone travelling to African countries where yellow fever is endemic must take a vaccine before travel. The other 2 diseases have no vaccines as yet, although a vaccine against dengue is in Phase III trial. We are told that the Zika virus is 'spreading explosively' in South America because people there have no immunity against the virus, but if there is cross-reactivity with other viruses then they must have at least partial immunity to the Zika. The BCG vaccine against tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, seems to offer some resistance against leprosy, caused by Mycobacterium leprae. Delhi reported 10,683 cases of dengue last year because the AAP government did not get the drains cleaned before monsoon, resulting in stagnation of water, which is ideal for breeding mosquitoes. 41 people died. Vast number of mild cases must have gone unreported. Municipal workers in east Delhi are on strike because they have not been paid, causing garbage to pile up. If the Zika does get here we can expect an epidemic. Maybe there has been an epidemic already, causing small brains. That may explain why people voted for this gang.