Zika Virus and the Impact on the 

Brazilian Economy 

______________________ 

Brooke Grindinger 

ABSTRACT: ​This capstone provides an introduction to

the Zika Virus and the serious health and economic
effects presented by it to the Brazilian population and
economy.
Since the conditions of poverty impact the severity of the
disease, the consequences of making poorer already
destitute communities compounds the tragedy involved.
I conclude by offering a brief overview of the different
prevention policies proposed.

Introduction
The Zika Virus first made its debut in the Zika
rainforest, located in Uganda, and the virus made spread
through many African countries. Little to no attempts
were made to slow the spread of it, as the dangerous
symptom of microcephaly and other birth defects which
cause an abnormally small head which hinders brain
development have not been connected to the virus. The
defects had not originally been connected to the
mosquito bites the mother contracted due to the long
time scale of the virus. Microcephaly is the major
concern of people contracting it, and the symptom is
only visible once the child is born, which a very long
time after the initial mosquito bite. With the impaired
mental condition, due to the smaller head cavity caused
by many of the defects, the child may not obtain
complete mental capacity. Without that, moving into the
workforce would be even more difficult, if not
impossible. Without being able to live unassisted, the
government also would suffer drastically due to a
slowdown in able bodied and minded adults in the work
force. For a rapidly growing economy like Brazil, the
1
Zika Virus could deter growth. The Zika virus has
plagued countries ranging from Uganda to the United
States. The problems that the virus exhibits have been
overlooked by western communities, but attention needs
to be given to the economic challenges the Zika virus
presents to Brazil and possibly other countries. The
symptoms of the Zika Virus causes human development
issues that will negatively affect the future workforce by
disabling workers and slowing the essential growth of

1
World Health Organization, ​The History of Zika Virus​, (2017),
http://www.who.int/emergencies/zika-virus/timeline/en/
the Brazilian economy unless methods are used to slow
or expel the threat of the Zika Virus.
The Zika Virus is not a new medical dilemma.
The disease began in the Zika Rainforest of Uganda in
1947. A group of researchers studying a troop of
monkeys began doing a routine check for Dengue Fever,
which is nearly identical to Zika. A new type of RNA,
ribonucleic acid, came back in the results, which was the
virus. While it flew under the researchers’ radar, nearly
all of the people working on the case contracted the
disease. Only a year later, a different group of
researchers also studying Dengue Fever collected a
group of mosquitoes for Dengue testing. Multiple
mosquitos had obtained the newly documented Zika
Virus and the mosquitos continued to spread it to
humans and monkeys alike. In 1952, the first human
cases were documented in Uganda, and next in the
United Republic of Tanzania. The virus had spread to
another African country, which is an important step in
the virus’s exponential growth. Zika’s symptoms were
not initially severe because many of the immediate
symptoms can be overlooked. For example, there is a
small rash and slight fever that could easily be left
untreated. After Tanzania became infected, Nigeria saw
cases of the Zika Virus in 1954. Many people know little
about the severity of the virus because the amount of
cases and time between infection and birth does not
allow for a connection to be drawn between the Zika
virus and birth defects. The spread continued to Gabon.
While the Zika Virus has made its mark across Africa,
no research had yet been done to connect the virus and
2
birth defects such as mircrocephaly.
The Zika virus has made its presence now by
infecting many different places and people aside from its
3
origin. It has had a presence in over 65 countries. Very
few of the countries have made attempts to curb the Zika
virus. Due to this, the virus has spread quickly around
the globe. The island country of Yap, a pacific island,
was one of the major stepping stones for the Zika virus.
“In 2007, physicians on Yap Island reported an outbreak
of illness characterized by rash, conjunctivitis, and
4
arthralgia.” At the time, the physicians thought of the
virus as benign. During this outbreak of Zika, only 14
people tested positive. The physicians of the time
attempted to locate the Dengue RNA, but found a new
type of RNA, a thumbprint of a virus. Zika RNA was
found in the victims. Later on, “[The researchers]
identified 49 confirmed and 59 probable cases of Zika

2
Ibid.
3
Harvard Medical School, & Boston Children's Hospital. (2016).
2016 Zika Outbreak​. ​http://www.healthmap.org/zika/#timeline

4
M.R. ​Duffy, ​Zika Virus Outbreak on Yap Island, Federated States
of Micronesia,​ ​Pupmed​, 2009,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19516034
virus disease.” Due to the lack of accurate technology in
the countries where the research was done, many of the
cases were labeled “probable” if many of the symptoms
were shown. The larger outbreak was still no cause for
extreme alarm, as the symptoms seemed minimal. But,
the exponential growth can be the cause for concern
should the virus spread and mutate. On the islands of
Yap, the conclusion from the physician was: “Although
most patients had mild illness, clinicians and public
health officials should be aware of the risk of further
5
expansion of Zika virus transmission.” The public
health officials worried about the rapid expansion due to
the mosquitos. The virus could, and did, travel and
mutate quickly due to the transmission method.

Transmission of Zika
The transmission of the Zika virus has few
paths, but its methods are very potent. Zika is mainly
transmitted through mosquitos. As stated in BioMed
Central, “ZIKV is a flavivirus that is primarily
transmitted by daytime-active mosquitoes of the ​Aedes
spp.” ​Aedes ​mosquitos are the most common species of
mosquitos, and very little to none have immunity
[inability to pass on the virus] to the Zika virus. To
transmit the virus while drinking the blood of their
victims, mosquitos use proboscises, which is “a long
serrated mouthpart used to pierce the skin and suck out

5
Ibid.
blood.” This “needle” is double tubed, and mosquitoes
“[inject] saliva containing an anticoagulant and mild
6
pain killer.” The injection would contain Zika RNA if
the mosquito has been exposed to it. This race of
mosquito also carries dengue fever, a virus closely
related to Zika. The mosquito population of infected
countries is very large, due to low drainage of standing
water and humid areas, and it is also sexually
transmitted. This method is important because most of
the destructive symptoms of Zika come with a
pregnancy. If a women were to get pregnant from a man
infected with the virus, not only could it possibly start a
pregnancy, but Zika could doom the child with the virus.
This aspect of Zika makes it very dangerous because of
the connection of transmission and pregnancy. Having
this option is a chance for the number of babies with
birth defects to skyrocket due to the chance of the
women being pregnant when the she obtains the virus.
The Zika virus is very similar to a group of
tropical, mosquito borne viruses. Other viruses in the
group are Dengue Fever and Chikungunya Virus. It is
widely believed that the Zika Virus is closely related to
7
Dengue fever. Dengue is used to project the path of
Zika because the structure of the two are very similar.

6
Ibid.
7
​Musso, Didier et al​Following the Path of Dengue and Chikungunya,
(2015, July 18) ​http://www.thelancet.com/journals/​lancet/
article/PIIS0140-6736(15)61273-9/fulltext
Both generally target impoverished countries due to
improper drainage and vector control. The mosquito’s
life cycle fits in well in war wet places. The ​Aedes
mosquito can carry the disease, and they start by
breeding in warm, wet environment. One of the reasons
that we see mosquitos in areas around the equator is due
to the warmth and tropics that are present around them.
When there is stagnant water, which is common in
tropical areas, the mosquitos breed quickly. The virus is
then spread quicker due to the intense population of
mosquitos. Both DENV and ZIV have spread through
8
the breeding of mosquitos.
DENV has been in the public eye much longer
than ZIV has. Because the viruses are very similar,
DENV is often used as a key piece of information to
project the path of ZIV. Zika has not been carefully
studied because of its seemingly benign symptoms.
Simply a rash and slight fever was not a call for a study,
but could rather be overlooked. When countries started
to notice that their people were starting to suffer from
infant abnormalities, like microcephaly, there was a
cause for alarm. Without the completed research and

8
Matthew ​Lozier, et al, ​Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,
(2016, November 11), ​www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes
/65/wr/mm6544a4.htm
study, ZIV uses DENV as a model to base the
projections off of for the Zika virus.

ZIV and DENV

ZIV and DENV are also similar in the sense that
they effect the same ages of people. Aside from the
embryo effects of ZIV, both mainly affect elderly people
and young children. But, the Zika virus has been show to
mostly affect women. In people under the age of twenty,
61% of the victims were female. In people under 40
years of age, 52% of the positive cases were female.
This is important because women are the ones carrying
children, and if the woman becomes infected, the baby is
at a high chance of birth defects. While the people within
in the age group increased, the larger amount of women
to men’s counterpart decrease, there is still an unequal
ratio. While DENV and ZIV both affect the young and
old, ZIV affects women more often. Therefore, embryos
are much more susceptible. But, this data could be
skewed. As the CDC states “Women are more likely to
9
seek out medical care”. This information is hopeful
because concerning DENV and ZIV, they are both
known to induce birth defects. Breakdengue.org states,
“the risk of stillbirth was estimated to be up to seven

9
Ibid.
 10
times as high for a woman with dengue infection.”
DENV and ZIV are very similar in people whom they
infect. But, the infection of men is still very dangerous
because Zika can be transmitted through sexual
intercourse. Without access to measures to engage in
safe sex, nearly all encounters result in transmission if
either party is infected.

Zika and Population

The Zika virus poses many problems for people
of all ages and genders. The disease is contracted
through mosquitoes, and it has a proven connection to
birth abnormalities. When contracted, the victim will
originally have a mosquito bite because of the
transmission of the virus. But, a slight fever will develop
as well as muscle and joint pain. A rash may present
itself, but it generally goes unnoticed or mistreated as a
rash. This is a very big problem because when the virus
is contracted when the mother is pregnant, serious birth
11
defects occur. The Zika virus is most dangerous for

10
Daniella Barron, ​Bigger than Zika? The pregnancy Risks of
Dengue​, (2016, May 25),
https://www.breakdengue.org/dengue-zika-pregnancy-risks/
11
Boeuf, Phillipe, et al ​The Global Threat of Zika Virus to
Pregnancy:Epidemiology, Clinical Perspectives, Mechanisms, and
Impact, ​(2016, August 3),
www.bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-016-
0660-0
infants “given that around thirty-three percent of infants
with a [head circumference] between two and three
[units] below the mean have moderate to severe
12
intellectual impairment.” A smaller head circumference
(abbreviated HC) is the definition of microcephaly. The
condition results in an underdeveloped head cavity. This
results in a smaller brain cavity, which causes the brain
to be unable to grow to its full potential. Zika poses
other cranial problems to newborns. “Other structural
cerebral abnormalities are also associated with
congenital ZIKV (abbreviation of “Zika Virus”)
syndrome, including brainstem and cerebellar
hypoplasia, delayed myelination, severe
ventriculomegaly, gross calcification of the brain
13
parenchyma, and some cases of lissencephaly.” In
summary, ZIV is responsible for many birth
abnormalities that results in decreased mental capacity
and intellect. These developmental issues listed above
are life threatening, and could cause the victim to be
unable to work or live life normally. The other important
defect for the purpose of this paper is Guillain–Barré, a
complication which causes muscle paralysis due to a
immune disease “Guillain–Barré is an additional serious
14
complication that may follow ZIKV infection.” With

12
Ibid.
13
Ibid.
14
Ibid.
all of these developmental diseases, Zika transmission
needs to be slowed or stopped.

Brazil and Zika

Recently, there Brazil has struggled with the
Zika virus. Brazil has been hit the hardest because the
population is very dense and access to healthcare is
remote at best. In recent times, microcephaly has been
connected to stunted physical and mental growth. This
change in the mental capacity of the victims is extremely
detrimental to the economy. Microcephaly victims are
almost always unable to support themselves, let alone
hold down a money earning job. The lack of jobs is
especially important in a growing country. A skipped
generation in the workforce could mean an economic
15
downturn for a new economy. An example of this
would be the opposite of the baby boomer generation in
American society. With the additional able bodied
adults, industry boomed. Many more businesses were
able to manufacture more materials with the additional
workers, as well as make a larger profit. The cycle
would continue until there are no more additional
workers to take on the newly available jobs. This influx
of people has the ability to change the economy for the
better. The Zika virus would have the opposite effect.
With fewer people working jobs, less product will be

15
Elena Ulansky, ​The Economics of Zika,​ (2016, June 20),
http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/284177-the-economics-of-zika
made. For example, if a Brazilian company produces
timber, without workers in the forests, there will be a
minimum amount of timber produced. This will raise the
16
cost of timber. The Zika virus will put the victims of
microcephaly out of work, which will also require a
family member to be unemployed to ensure the patient
are cared for. With many people out of work, it would be
17
nearly impossible to afford the higher timber prices.
ZIV can cause a downturn in the number of jobs which
would raise the prices of goods, cause the Brazilian
economy to plummet and send the country into an
economic recession.
Brazil’s economy is currently growing and
improving without the Zika Virus having a huge effect,
yet. But, a recent setback in 2016 had the government
worried. There was a drop in the labor market during
18
that time, which is likely to have caused the recession.
Only a small change in the labor market has an ability to
change the economy. With the Zika virus, this effect
could be exponential. Once the babies affected by
microcephaly and other birth defects are of age to begin
working, the detrimental effects on the economy will
start. With the large number of projected people to be

16
Ibid.
17
Ibid.
18
Focus Economics. Brazil Economy- GDP, Inflation, CPI and
Interest Rate, (2017, October 10)
www.focus-economics.com/countries/brazil
out of work due to the conditions, the labor market will
fall drastically, leading to, at least, another economic
problem, and possibly a collapse.

Personal Story: Nick Grounds

While the Zika Virus seems like a far off
problem, some of the conditions are happening in the
United States. A family in New York, New York had a
son with the condition of microcephaly. The boy was
named Nick Grounds, and lived in a well-off household.
He attended a private school for children with special
needs, after he finished a state funded three-year
intensive therapy program. The parents discussed with
the New York Times interviewer how the CDC expects
the child to cost the family ten million dollars over his
life. This high sum is due to his special schooling to help
him learn to cope with his disability. Every week at his
private school, “he has speech therapy four times,
occupational therapy three times, physical therapy three
times, individual counseling once, adaptive physical
therapy twice, yoga once, and art class and music class
19
twice each.” He has grown from only being able to
grunt and point as communication to being able to string
words together. For a few months at his school, the main
objective was to have him be able to close his mouth and

19
Ibid.
 20
stop from drooling. This story shows how critical the
condition of mircrocephaly is. It is difficult to deal with
even in New York with money and medical offices at the
patient’s disposal. In impoverished countries with little
to no government support, the task is almost impossible.
Now that a connection has been made between
the virus and the very serious condition of
mircrocephaly, attempts to find a virus have been made.
But, similar to Dengue fever, no solution has been found
with a vaccine. But, a lab has been solely focused on the
Zika virus and finding a cure, or way to cure it. This lab
is located closely to the heart of the epidemic: Puerto
Rico, a United States territory. Close to South America
and Latin America, it allows for data to be collected and
analyzed at ground zero. This is extremely important
because the conditions are known to the scientists
studying the problem. The different types of mosquito
control can be immediately implemented, while a
traditional lab would move much slower. Testing would
need to be ordered, rather than just turning to the
surrounding area of the Zika riddled area of Puerto Rico.
21

20
McNeil, Donald. “Short Answers to Hard Questions About Zika
Virus” ​New York Times,​ (2016, July 29),
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive
/2016/health/what-is-zika-virus.html

21
World Health Organization, The History of Zika Virus,
http://www.who.int/emergencies/zika-virus/timeline/en/
 The first type of solution is a vaccine. This
would be the easiest form of care, as it is very clean;
meaning that it is a cure all. While this may be a difficult
22
journey to find the cure, progress is being made. Live
attenuated vaccines ​are vaccines derived from a
pathogen, but have been sedated to the point where the
body understands how to cure the virus without feeling
23
the effects of it. ​As stated in BMC, “​At this stage, a
number of vaccine approaches are being pursued,
including DNA-based and recombinant protein subunit
vaccines. Live attenuated vaccines are also promising,
being modeled off work for yellow fever and Dengue
24
viruses.” By using dengue fever, there may be a
vaccine for Zika. But the vaccine would present
innumerable problems. The vaccine would need to be
distributed evenly around the areas infected with the
Zika Virus. The difficulty of this task would be
enormous in the way that the method of distribution
would either be very expensive or easily corrupted. The
vaccines could be used as leverage against peoples in

22
Ibid.
23
World Health Organization, Vaccine Safety Basics, (2016, July
29), ​www.vaccine-safety-training.org
24
Boeuf, Phillipe, et al. ​The Global Threat of Zika Virus to
Pregnancy:Epidemiology, Clinical Perspectives, Mechanisms, and
Impact, ​(2016, August 3), ​www.bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.
com/articles/10.1186/s12916-016-0660-0
developing countries, but this happening would be a
small chance. The Zika virus is very similar to Dengue
Fever in the way it doesn’t have a vaccine, but different
enough to provide hope for a vaccine.

Prevention
The Zika virus is causing many countries to
rethink their laws and social standards concerning
abortion due to the increasingly large number of babies
born with birth defects. In Colombia, the government
has allowed women free abortions should they become
infected with the virus. The idea behind abortion as a
way of containment of the disabled children is
rudimentary but accurate. To ease the strain on the
government and the workforce that these children would
cause, the elimination of a defective fetus is a viable
25
method. Facing a lot of pushback from the primarily
catholic regions, abortion as a solution is not easily
sustainable. While the government has loosened the ban
on contraceptives, catholic leaders still feel very strongly
about the issue behind abortion.
In the near future, the developing Brazilian
economy will feel the effect of the Zika Virus. The
workforce will diminish due to microcephaly, and will
cause the economy to take a drastic downturn. For

25
McNeil, Donald. “Short Answers to Hard Questions About Zika
Virus.”
Brazil, the most ideal solution would be a vaccine. This
vaccine could cause drastic changes in the social makeup
of Brazil. For example, Mosquito nets throughout rural
villages have proved to cause jealousy and anger among
the women in the villages. The jealousy and anger
among the women could cause trouble within the social
aspect. With workers being subpar emotionally, that
would cause an internal issue within the businesses.
With workers not emotionally stable, accident can occur,
which would then cause business to repair and fix the
damaged parts. The villagers question why one women
would get a mosquito net over another. This social strife
disables many groups of people because of the lack of
complete mosquito net distribution. With vaccines, this
problem could become larger. Unlike the mosquito nets,
vaccines cannot be shared or used in rotation. The
complete immunity given by the vaccine is an end all to
the problem of children with microcephaly. But, it does
pose problems on the social side, as well as the issue
with finding the vaccine.
Microcephaly is a problem that cannot be
ignored. The extension of the virus that causes
microcephaly can cause the tentatively growing
Brazilian economy to completely halt expansion. The
social struggle of the vaccine solution compares itself to
the problems of physical control of transmission and its
unreliability. Following Dengue fever’s course, the Zika
virus has the ability to mutate and become even more
dangerous. The quick growth and transmission of the
virus gives a probable chance of mutation. With Zika
already being so dangerous with the Microcephaly
aspect and other serious and life threatening birth
defects, the Brazilian economy must prepare for a
workforce population drop, as to prevent a complete
economic crisis and depression.