Zika samples are scanty for preventive and curative research

The mosquito-borne Zika virus sweeping through South America has claimed three lives in Colombia, as the United Nations (UN) urged increased access to abortion because of fears of severe birth defects. Colombia's National Health Institute (INS) on February 05, 2016 said blaming Zika for causing deaths, the patients died after contracting the virus and developing a rare neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome. Cases of the syndrome - in which the immune system attacks the nervous system, causing weakness and sometimes paralysis - have increased in tandem with the Zika outbreak. And that fuelled suspicions that it is a complication of the otherwise mild tropical fever, which is also blamed for causing brain damage in babies born to infected mothers.       
Panic runs high in South America due to the connection of the Zika virus with Microcephaly which is a rare neurological condition, in which a baby is born with a small head and brain. The affected American countries comprising Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica, Honduras, Venezuela and Panama have advised women to delay their pregnancies. The United States (US) has advised pregnant women not to travel to the affected countries. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently said, "The level of concern is high, as is the level of uncertainty. We need to get some answers quickly. The experts agreed that a causal relationship between Zika infection during pregnancy and Microcephaly is strongly suspected, though not yet scientifically proven".
The Fiocruz institute in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's top research centre, said Zika had been detected in urine and saliva. The scientists were careful to clarify that there is no evidence to prove that the virus can be transmitted through those fluids, but said people should take precautions, especially expecting mothers. The Fiocruz urged to "Avoid sharing glasses, silverware, and contact with someone who has symptoms of a possible infection. Don't kiss, obviously". The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for their part urged people to use condoms or abstain from having sex if they live in or have travelled to Zika-infected areas. The US health officials confirmed the first case of sexually transmitted Zika - a person who had travelled to Venezuela and infected a sexual partner in Texas upon return. In the US territory of Puerto Rico, officials declared a health emergency over Zika and confirmed a pregnant woman had been infected, bringing the number of cases on the island to 22. The emergency measures included freezing the price of condoms and combating mosquitoes.   
All concerned agreed on the urgent need to coordinate international efforts to investigate and understand this relationship better. The experts also considered patterns of recent spread and the broad geographical distribution of mosquito species that can transmit the virus. According to WHO, the lack of vaccines and rapid and reliable diagnostic tests, and the absence of population immunity in newly affected countries were cited as further causes for concern. Both the US CDC and Fiocruz said that more research was needed on person-to-person transmission. Brazil has been the country hardest hit by the outbreak, with an estimated 1.5 million cases. Colombia is next on the list, with more than 25,646 people infected including 3,177 pregnant women. Zika often goes unnoticed, and causes a relatively mild fever and rash in those who develop symptoms. But Brazil sounded the alarm after recording a surge in babies born with Microcephaly. It has registered 404 cases since October 2015 and 3,670 suspected cases, up from 147 in all of 2014.
The UN and US health officials alleged that the Zika-affected major country Brazil is not sharing enough samples and disease data to let researchers determine whether the Zika virus is, as feared, linked to the increased number of babies born with abnormally small heads in the South American country. The lack of data is forcing laboratories in the US and Europe to work with samples from previous outbreaks, and is frustrating the efforts to develop diagnostic tests, drugs and vaccines.
Scientists complain that having so little to work with is hampering their ability to track the Zika virus' evolution. One major problem appears to be Brazilian law. At the moment, it is technically illegal for Brazilian researchers and institutes to share genetic material, including blood samples containing Zika and other viruses. Dr. Marcos Espinal, Director of communicable diseases in the WHO's regional office in Washington said "It's a very delicate issue, this sharing of samples. Lawyers have to be involved". Dr. Espinal, however, said he hoped the issue might be resolved after discussions between the US and Brazilian presidents. He said, the WHO's role was mainly to be a broker to encourage countries to share genetic information. He said "There is no way this should not be solved in the foreseeable future. Waiting is always risky during an emergency".
As the first cases of Zika in Brazil were emerging last May 2015, President Dilma Rousseff signed a new law to regulate how researchers use the country's genetic resources. But the regulatory framework has not yet been drafted, leaving scientists in legal limbo. Paulo Gadelha, president of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil's premier state-run research institute for tropical diseases, said, "Until the law is implemented, we're legally prohibited from sending samples abroad. Even if we wanted to send this material abroad, we can't because it's considered a crime". The spike in cases prompted WHO to declare an international emergency on February 01, 2016.
Public health officials across the world are falling back on older viruses - or discreetly taking them from private patients, in the face of drought of Brazilian samples. The US official, who shared the information on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak publicly, said, the CDC was relying on a strain taken from a 2013 outbreak in French Polynesia to perfect its Zika tests. He said the US researchers trying to sequence Zika's genetic code have been forced to work with virus samples from Puerto Rico for the same reason. Dr. Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, an expert on mosquito-borne diseases at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, said that some researchers are bypassing Brazil's bureaucracy by getting samples sent to them for testing by a private laboratory.
The Bangladesh Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), however, said there is nothing to be worried about Zika in Bangladesh. The IEDCR said that Bangladesh is at low risk of Zika virus as the American continent where the Zika epidemic is spreading is too far from it. It told that "We have the vector (for Zika) but we don't have the virus ...we are alert as we always remain, but there are issues to be worried. It is of concern that Aedes species of mosquito which quickly transmitted Zika virus, a little-known, untreatable virus to people primarily through the bite of an infected, is more available in Bangladesh. The same mosquitoes spread dengue and Chikungunya viruses".
The IEDCR has advised everybody to take utmost caution as there was no vaccine or medicine for Zika prevention or cure. Prevention of mosquito bite and control of breeding ground are the key measures to be taken. The virus causes fever, rash and red eyes. The symptom appears in one out of five Zika infected persons.
The writer is a retired Professor of Economics, BCS General Education Cadre.
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