EDITORIAL - Global emergency

By this time, most countries are familiar with the drill: commercial aircraft are disinfected and all international travelers are monitored for symptoms of illness. People are more mindful of public sanitation and personal hygiene. Travelers are adjusting their plans and keeping themselves updated on every development about the latest global health threat: the Zika virus.

Health officials have warned that the Philippines is particularly vulnerable. The virus is borne by the same Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits dengue and thrives in this tropical archipelago. The country is still grappling with dengue and a related mosquito-borne disease, chikungunya. With about 10 million Filipinos working overseas, the risk of contracting Zika abroad and bringing it to the Philippines is also high.

As images have shown, Zika has been linked to microcephaly among babies of infected mothers, leaving the newborns with compressed brains and shrunken skulls. No vaccine has been developed so far for the potentially lethal affliction.

Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur said its production of a vaccine for dengue could speed up development of a vaccine for Zika. Still, even with research fast-tracked, a Zika vaccine is still at least several months away.

In the meantime, countries can only prevent the spread of the virus through the same measures used against dengue: the destruction of mosquitoes and their breeding grounds.

Brazil, where nearly 4,000 babies now suffer from Zika, is reportedly planning to release genetically modified aegypti mosquitoes that die before they reach adult stage. This may not be possible in the Philippines where the Supreme Court frowns on genetically modified organisms. The best that Filipinos can do is to keep surroundings clean, use insect repellent and treated mosquito nets, observe hygiene and be on alert for symptoms. An abundance of caution is useful when confronting a disease without a cure.