Don't be reckless about Zika

When I saw this story in the ST yesterday, I thought that was odd. The US CDC has a different and more sophisticated risk based approach. Naturally the CDC also advised pregnant women to avoid the US states which Zika has become endemic. That is another way of saying if you are a pregnant resident of Miami-Dade county continuing your pregnancy elsewhere with no threat of Zika is a good idea. Therefore that is reason enough for Singapore residents to avoid getting pregnant for the next few months until we have a better understanding of what we are dealing with. Err on the side of caution. Aren't doctors taught this philosophy of caring for patients?

I think in private most doctors would tell their patients to hold off pregnancy for now. In public they have to consider government public policy which is based on the needs of society ranking higher than the individual. Generally this is correct but in this instance it is also callous. Yet another cause for weakening the trust bond between people and government. I am reminded of their abysmal handling of the Hep C outbreak at SGH.

My research turned up the following yesterday:

Read the Univeristy of Illinois article.

If Zika turns out to parallel Rubella which probably doesn't take a very long time to find out, this gung ho attitude toward getting pregnant with Zika floating everywhere in Aedes mosquitoes looking for blood meals will bring grief to many families for nothing.

What is a little more caution and patience? The more knowledge I gain, the less I trust the doctors and the government.

Update: 8:10 am

This is the cynical angle I try as much as possible to avoid. We should always try to only question judgement and not motives. Now what if Prof Leslie Reagan was taking this unexpected opportunity to drum up interest in her book? Well I hope I am wrong. Whatever it is, we need to do our homework at a time when there is so little time and so much information overload.

Government and professional like doctors need to earn and renew the trust placed on them regularly because unlike in the past there will always be others who in their narrow self interest try to take that down in order to advance their agendas.