In an abundance of caution, Elon University has postponed or rerouted five Spring Break service programs to Central America and the Caribbean this March to minimize the possibility of students contracting the Zika virus.
Fifty-six students scheduled to visit Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala or Jamaica through Elon’s Alternative Breaks Program will be offered the opportunity to join programs already planning Spring Break domestic travel for service work.
In addition to students registered with the Alternative Breaks Program, juniors on the Elon Phoenix football team will no longer travel to Costa Rica next month for a planned academic and service experience.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel alert in January to countries where Zika has been reported. While the CDC has not advised against travel to affected regions, Elon made the decision to minimize the risk of exposure.
Elon is not cancelling the spring semester program to San José, Costa Rica, beginning in March. These eight students have been provided extensive information on the Zika virus. Elon staff members will help accommodate any student who wishes to re-enroll on campus.
Zika virus is a mosquito-borne disease where approximately 1 in 5 cases will present mild symptoms that include fever, rash, joint and muscle pain, conjunctivitis (red eyes) and vomiting.
The mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus are aggressive daytime biters and feed indoors and outdoors, near dwellings. There is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat Zika, though it is rare for this illness to escalate to hospitalization. The incubation period is 3-12 days.
Current data indicate that virus is present in blood for a maximum of one week. Symptoms usually last for several days to a week before going away on their own.
Recent alarm has been raised over the possibility of a connection between Zika and a specific birth defect called microcephaly. Experts have cautioned that the link between Zika virus and microcephaly remains under investigation. They have long known that, in rare cases, an infected mother can pass the virus on to her unborn child, and research has suggested that Zika virus can also be transmitted sexually in some cases.
However, most cases of Zika virus are contracted after the patient is bitten by a mosquito that previously bit someone else who had the Zika virus.
Anyone with questions about Elon global study programs in Central America and the Caribbean can email Bill Burress, associate director of Study Abroad, at bburress@elon.edu.
Anyone with questions about Elon’s Alternative Breaks Program can email Evan Small, assistant director of the Kernodle Center for student programs, at esmall@elon.edu.