Nearly seven decades since the virus was discovered here, this forest is suddenly of global interest. Situated about 30km south of Uganda’s capital Kampala, the natural tropical jungle is reserved for research and it’s here that the first Zika virus case was reported about 70 years ago, when scientists were studying mosquitoes.
“After mosquitos are collected from the field they are stored in these freezers at very cold temperatures In order to keep the virus alive. The mosquitos are kept here until when there is need to carry out some research. What is happening here is the different species are being identified to find out which mosquito transmits what virus”Isabel Nakiriya, Entebbe
And while the zika virus is causing wide attention thousands of miles away in South America, scientists here say there is no need to panic in Uganda.
“Why we are not threatened is that the mosquito species that we have do not bite man but prefer to bite animals and are not able to transmit the zika virus.”DR. Julius Lutwama, Uganda Virus Research Institute.
There are two strains of the virus; African and the Asian Scientists say the Asian strain which is causing severe birth effects in South America is more troublesome.
” There has been a slight change in the genetic makeup of this virus (in south america) which is making it multiply much more quickly and in big amounts in the human body. Before it wasn’t much adapted to the human body and it wasn’t multiplying as much.”Julius Lutwama, Uganda Virus Research Institute.
In Uganda, the few cases that occurred before 2007 were mild and passed without any serious infections. Researchers are however carrying out further studies.
“One of the things we want to do first is to find out the extent of zika virus infection in the Ugandan population, we want to look at the blood of a cross section of Ugandans to see what ratio of has been exposed to the zika virus and if we can know the areas then make mosquito collections to be able to pick the virus if its there and compare it with the original to see if any changes have taken place, and compare it with the one causing problems in south America.”Julius Lutwama, Uganda Virus Research Institute
According to scientists, the zika virus occurs in areas along the equator… Uganda is among them. Researchers are studying a possible threat that the African strain could become hazardous in future but rather than a threat, Zika forest remains a quite jungle rich in flora fauna.
