Colombian
health authorities recently announced that three people who had been infected
with the Zika virus had died after developing the Guillain-Barre syndrome, the
first time health officials had said the Zika virus could cause deaths.
"We
have confirmed and attributed three deaths to Zika," Martha Lucia Ospina,
head of Colombia's National Health Institute, told reporters during a news
conference on Feb. 5.
"In
this case, the three deaths were preceded by Guillain-Barre syndrome,"
said Ospina, an epidemiologist, adding that six further deaths were under
investigation for a possible link to Zika.
Colombian Health Minister Alejandro
Gaviria has said there was a "causal connection" between Zika, the
Guillain-Barre disorder and the three deaths.
Guillain-Barre is a rare disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the nervous system and damages the nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis.
The
symptoms can last a few weeks or several months and while most people recover
fully from Guillain-Barre, some have permanent damage, and in rare cases people
have died from the syndrome, according to the United States Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC).
Reported
cases of Guillain-Barre have increased as the Zika outbreak spreads across
Central and South America. So far, the Zika virus has spread to more than 25
countries and territories in the region, according to the World Health
Organization (WHO).
Brazil,
Colombia, El Salvador, Suriname and Venezuela have all reported an increase in
the number of cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, just as French Polynesia did
during large outbreaks of Zika there in 2013 and 2014, the WHO says.
Colombia
reports an average of 242 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome a year, but reported
86 cases in the five weeks to Jan. 30, 2016. People of all ages can be
affected, but it is more common in adults and in males, the WHO says. Much
remains unknown about Zika, for which there is no vaccine.
Scientists
are studying a potential - but unproven - link between the surge in cases of
Guillain-Barre and the Zika virus, and are trying to determine if a Zika
patient is more likely to develop the Guillain-Barre syndrome.
"We
do not know if Zika virus infection causes GBS (Guillain-Barre syndrome). It is
difficult to determine if any particular germ "causes" GBS," the
CDC says on its website.
The
cause of Guillain-Barre cannot always be determined, but it is often triggered
by an infection, such as HIV, the mosquito-borne dengue virus, or influenza,
according to the WHO.
A team of CDC experts is expected to
arrive in Colombia this week for a three-week visit to investigate the possible
links between the Guillain-Barre syndrome and Zika.
After Brazil, Colombia is the country
most affected by Zika, with more than 25,000 cases so far, more than 3,000 of
them involving pregnant women. Although Zika usually causes mild,
flu-like symptoms often lasting for up to one week, the virus has also been
linked to thousands of suspected birth defects. The
WHO declared the Zika outbreak an international health emergency on Feb. 1,
after a spike in Guillain-Barre syndrome cases and microcephaly, a neurological
disorder.
The
health agency cited a "strongly suspected" relationship between Zika
infection in pregnancy and microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small
head size in newborn babies that can result in developmental problems. Brazil
is investigating the potential link between Zika infections and more than 4,000
suspected cases of microcephaly. Researchers have identified evidence of Zika
infection in 17 of these cases, in either the baby or the mother, but have not
confirmed that Zika can cause microcephal
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