Zika: heterogeneity and history

Zika: heterogeneidade e história

Zika: heterogeneidad e historia

Beuy Joob Viroj Wiwanitkit About the authors

Dear Editors, we read the publication Signifying Zika: Heterogeneity in the Representations of the Virus by History Of Infection with a great interest 11. Guedes GR, Coutinho RZ, Marteleto L, Pereira WHS, Duarte D. Signifying Zika: heterogeneity in the representations of the virus by history of infection. Cad Saúde Pública 2018; 34:e00003217.. Guedes et al. 11. Guedes GR, Coutinho RZ, Marteleto L, Pereira WHS, Duarte D. Signifying Zika: heterogeneity in the representations of the virus by history of infection. Cad Saúde Pública 2018; 34:e00003217. concluded that “personal experience seems to shape the social representation of the disease, increasing the focus on its proximate consequences”. There are some issues regarding this report. First, Guedes et al. 11. Guedes GR, Coutinho RZ, Marteleto L, Pereira WHS, Duarte D. Signifying Zika: heterogeneity in the representations of the virus by history of infection. Cad Saúde Pública 2018; 34:e00003217. used interviews to collect data regarding the previous history of having “any disease transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito”. This might not result in accurate data since several acute febrile illness share the same clinical problem and the mis- or underdiagnosis of vector-borne diseases by the Aedes aegypti mosquito might be possible. In addition, the Zika virus disease has a high rate of asymptomatic infection 22. Joob B, Yasser F. Phenotypic spectrum of congenital Zika syndrome: a comment on the usefulness of case report. Case Study and Case Report 2017; 7:29-30., which might not be perceived in the infected cases. In our area, Indochina, previous report showed a high rate of asymptomatic infections among local people and there was no previous concern on having the disease among local people 33. Kim S, Rajadhan V. Seroprevalence of Zika virus in Cambodia: a preliminary report. Advance Laboratory Medicine International 2016; 6:37-40.. There is a wide clinical spectrum of Zika virus infection 44. Wiwanitkit S, Wiwanitkit V. Afebrile, asymptomatic and non-thrombocytopenic Zika virus infection: don't miss it! Asian Pac J Trop Med 2016; 9:513. and there might be several representations without a specific pattern.

  • 1
    Guedes GR, Coutinho RZ, Marteleto L, Pereira WHS, Duarte D. Signifying Zika: heterogeneity in the representations of the virus by history of infection. Cad Saúde Pública 2018; 34:e00003217.
  • 2
    Joob B, Yasser F. Phenotypic spectrum of congenital Zika syndrome: a comment on the usefulness of case report. Case Study and Case Report 2017; 7:29-30.
  • 3
    Kim S, Rajadhan V. Seroprevalence of Zika virus in Cambodia: a preliminary report. Advance Laboratory Medicine International 2016; 6:37-40.
  • 4
    Wiwanitkit S, Wiwanitkit V. Afebrile, asymptomatic and non-thrombocytopenic Zika virus infection: don't miss it! Asian Pac J Trop Med 2016; 9:513.

Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    21 Sept 2018
Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
E-mail: cadernos@ensp.fiocruz.br