Vicente Pessoa Júnior

Microcephaly and some spiritual implications

The virus Zika epidemic in Brazil is being related to skyrocketing cases of microcephaly in the country. According to the Ministry of Health, 2,401 cases have been confirmed until 12.12.2015 in 19 states and in the Federal District as well, which has left the entire population on alert.

The government has announced efforts in research work, monitoring and combating the emergence of new cases of microcephaly caused by the virus, which is transmitted by the Aedes Aegyptus – a mosquito that is also responsible for the transmission of dengue.  However, while we do not discover a virus immunity formula, the best remedy against contamination is still prevention.

Following, is an interview with Vicente Pessoa Junior, an infectious disease physician, and president of the Medical Association in the Brazilian city of Goiania, regarding these cases plaguing the country:

What is the relation between the Zika virus and microcephaly?

The fact is that information from epidemiological surveillance services show that in October 2015 a large increase in the number of cases of microcephaly was detected. The frequency of this malformation increased from 5.5 cases per 100,000 live births to 99.7 in 100,000 - an increase of almost 20 times. When studying the pregnancies of mothers, who gave birth to babies with microcephaly, it could be seen that many of these women showed a common rash frame (red spots) during pregnancy. The dissemination of the Zika virus and the increase in cases of microcephaly are phenomena that are happening simultaneously. This does not mean that one is the cause of the other. But, then why is it believed that these phenomena are associated? There are two reasons for this.

The first one is that when studying the pregnancies of mothers, who had micro cephalic babies, it was revealed that many of them had previously presented a rash frame (red spots) during pregnancy, featuring a viral infection. Dengue and chikungunya diagnosis were discarded.  In three cases of pregnant women, the ultrasonography showed that the babies had microcephaly in the womb, and the Zika virus was identified in the amniotic fluid. The second reason is geographic, both the emergence of the virus, as well as cases of microcephaly, happened in the same region of the country. It was due to these facts that the World Health Organization correctly stated that there is an association between these events. 

The symptoms related to this virus are milder than those reported by dengue fever, or even chikungunya, which may also be transmitted by the mosquito Aedes Aegypti that carries this virus. Considering that it is milder, is it possible that the person does not even get to know that it had the disease? 

About 80% of the people, who have become infected with the Zika virus, have no symptoms whatsoever. The disease goes unnoticed in these people. However, if it is a pregnant woman, there may be a fetal compromise. In people, who are not pregnant, the disease tends to be milder, if compared to other virus rash.

If the pregnant woman gets the Zika virus after the 1st trimester of pregnancy, is it possible to eliminate the risk of microcephaly in the fetus? 

There is no safe answer to that question yet. Based on the knowledge of other viral infections in pregnancy, it is believed that the cases infected in the first trimester are more likely to progress with microcephaly. But nothing ensures that the infection in the second or third trimester of pregnancy is safe. Other viruses are capable of causing malformations in fetuses and changes in these periods of pregnancy, such as deafness, visual changes, intracranial calcifications and other malformations. Nothing prevents the Zika virus of causing them too. This we will only know through time. 

Is there a safe period of time to get pregnant after the diagnosis of Zika virus?

The viremia period (period in which the virus circulates in the blood before disappearing or being eliminated) of the Zika virus lasts for an average of five days. This is the critical period for the fetus. Still, there is no reliable and secure data to say how long after the viremia is it safe to get pregnant. We'll have to wait and learn from the future studies on this new disease. 

As a Spiritist physician what is your opinion about this generation of babies, who are born with microcephaly across the country?

During a recent conference, I heard from a renowned colleague the following statement: "Brazil will have the mission to tell the world the story of the Zika virus". It is very difficult for all of us to speculate about the divine plan for a people or a country in face of something like this. I believe we do not understand these reasons. Why is there a tsunami in Asia? Why does a dam break in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais? Why does a volcano erupt somewhere? We do not know! We are aware of the Law of Cause and Effect, as well of the Divine Justice and we do believe that, based on these two laws, there must be some reason, some explanation for this. Based on this, and in my opinion, any conclusion is hasty and speculative. At the same time, I think that the Creator provides the means to fight against these difficulties, helping each other and pushing Science forward for the benefit of Mankind. This is why we have in our power the ability and the responsibility of caring for the breeding of the mosquito, decreasing the number of cases and the suffering of our people. It is our duty to do so. 

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Regarding this subject, Dr. Maria Carolina Porto, a pediatrician and president of the Medical Association in Lagos, Rio de Janeiro, states in her following text:
 

It is important to take care and love the Spirit, who comes with a weakened physical body  The Spirits, not being able to improve themselves, except through the trials of their corporeal existence, can we then consider that the material life is a sort of melting pot or debugger, which all beings of the spiritual world have to go through to reach perfection? "Yes, that is correct. They improve themselves through these tests, avoiding evil and doing well; however, only at the end of a longer or shorter period of time, according to their efforts; only after many incarnations, or successive purges, do they reach their purpose”. (The Book of Spirits, Question 196.)

We are going through a period of global transition; many Spirits, who come to this planet, are eager for changes or are driven by the higher law to their own moral recovery. Those, who receive the benefit of reincarnating in our country, live with the freedom of religious choice, a greater tolerance to differences and even social difficulties that allow them the opportunity to practice resignation, tolerance and the option to practice goodness.

In recent years, we experienced deep changes in the Brazilian law: the release of abortion for fetuses with anencephaly, sporadic cases of abortion authorization for fetuses with other malformations and access to methods such as the next day pill, widely released by the Ministry of Health. These measures reduce the possibility of the committed Spirits to be reborn here and thus go through their trials and tests.

In the book Action and Reaction, dictated by the Spirit Andre Luiz to the famous psychic Chico Xavier, we were told that we are not victims of ourselves, as much as we are all beneficiaries of the Divine Tolerance that gives us endless opportunities for correction and compensation. When we receive a reincarnating with a mental-cerebral disability, we will then have an unanswerable logic approach, not mirroring punishment, but rather a great blessing. 

We see this microcephaly epidemic, which is associated with a maternal infection prior to Zika virus, as a way to comply with the Divine Laws, enabling these families to learn how to care for and to love the Spirit that comes with the weak physical body needing special care and love, allowing this Spirit the atonement regarding the laws and its own conscience, and also that all Brazilian citizens learn to fight for decent health services and social rights for this significant portion of the population that will need the attention of us all.

Considering what was discussed here, it is important to think about our life and about the life of who reincarnates with such severe physical and/or intellectual restraint, having the opportunity to make every effort so that the Law of Reincarnation is accomplished according to the will of God but knowing that only through our moral efforts we will overcome this difficult time we are now experiencing.