Colombia reports three Zika deaths

Bogota, February 6 

In the first direct statements from government health officials blaming Zika for causing deaths, Colombia’s National Health Institute (INS) said yesterday that 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, fueling 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.

“Other cases (of deaths linked to Zika) are going to emerge,” said epidemiologist Martha Lucia Ospina, director of the INS.

“The world is realising that Zika can be deadly. The mortality rate is not very high, but it can be deadly.” 

Most Guillain-Barre patients recover, but the syndrome sometimes causes paralysis or even death.

Citing the rise in babies born with microcephaly, or abnormally small heads and brains, the UN human rights office urged countries hit by Zika to give women access to contraception and abortion.

The UN human rights office said countries urging women to avoid pregnancy — a list that comprises Colombia, Ecuador —  had to give them ways to control their fertility. — AFP