El Salvador Raises National Alert to Curb Transmission of Chikingunya, Dengue, Zika Virus

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A national health alert was raised in El Salvador Monday, following reports that tropical diseases from mosquito bites are increasing in the region.

El Salvador's civil protection agency has ordered 47 towns and villages around the country to enforce preventive measures against the Aedes aegypti mosquito, also known as the yellow fever mosquito, as it can likely also carry three other viruses that can lead to the development of mosquito-borne illnesses, per Yahoo! These illnesses are dengue, chikungunya and Zika.

Per the World Health Organization (WHO), dengue, chikungunya and Zika infection symptoms appear within three to 14 days after exposure to mosquito bites. These illnesses have been discovered as early as the 1940s but, up to now, there are no actual treatments or vaccines to directly treat or stop the spread of the disease. However, the symptoms exhibited from these mosquito-borne illnesses can be treated with painkillers, particularly paracetamol, per the Jamaican Observer.

"It's definitely becoming an issue, but there is so little research that we just don't know the size of the potential threat," said Global Health Research professor Trudie Lang via Reuters.

Common symptoms from the infection include fever, rashes and joint paints but, if left untreated, a patient could suffer from complications, thus making recovery harder. In particular, Zika infection can allegedly lead to brain damage in babies, according to VOA News. Cases of babies with microcephaly, or the congenital abnormal appearance of the brain because of its incomplete development, were found to be positive of the Zika virus in Brazil.

Aside from asking its local communities to enforce health measures to contain human infection, El Salvador is also asking pregnant mothers to get prenatal screenings and tests especially during the first three months.

The national health alert comes as news that a Canadian resident was diagnosed with Zika infection after returning from a trip from El Salvador. However, Canada's Public Health Agency declared the risk of the disease among other Canadians is low, according to CBC.

Meanwhile, Lang is calling on other health researchers and experts to do more observation and work on these diseases, particularly the Zika virus. A recent study has pointed out that the condition is most prevalent in tropical rural poor areas in South Asia, East Asia, South America, Central America and Southern Africa and it is likely going to get worse.

"[It] means that it has been greatly under estimated as an important public health problem across the world," said researcher Dr. Direk Limmathurotsakul via the University of Oxford.