The fifth positive result involved a woman from George Town who had traveled to a country between July 27 and August 1 where there is an established outbreak of the Zika virus. CPS said it appears as though all districts are affected.
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“The number of cases is stable”, he said, without giving further details.
Links to other neurological complications are also being investigated, World Health Organization added.
A Vietnamese woman, 40, was diagnosed with Zika virus while travelling in Japan, according to the General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.
Despite government efforts, the island nation has been included in several travel advisories because of the Zika cases, with experts fearing this will cause a dip in tourism revenue.
Since the emergence of the virus in St. Martin, one neurological complication was reported in April 2016 by a person whose infection by the virus was confirmed biologically.
“It remains unclear how (the son) was infected”, the report states. The best prevention measure is to avoid mosquito bites in areas with ongoing transmission.
Health authorities in Thailand are not treating Zika as seriously as dengue, which is much more widespread in the country, said Assistant Professor Watcharee Chokejindachai from the Faculty of Tropical Medicine at Mahidol University in Bangkok, because of a perception that Zika is less unsafe.
The health officials expressed fear that disclosing information on Zika would have a negative impact on the lucrative tourism industry of Thailand.
He added: “The onus for combating the spread of the virus locally is not just on the Department of Health in Northern Ireland”.
As more studies are being conducted on the effects of the mosquito-borne virus, researchers learn that adults can also experience unwanted health effects because of Zika infection such as Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a sickness of the nervous system.
The patients showed mild skin rashes but no other symptoms, unlike the first confirmed case of another pregnant woman who suffered from skin rashes, joint pains and red eyes.
Health warnings have also been issued to people travelling to affected areas such as the Caribbean, Central and South America, Oceania and some parts of Asia. There have been 634 cases of travel-related Zika infections in Florida and a total of 86 pregnant women have been reported infected with the virus since the start of the outbreak, according to the Florida Department of Health. Zika is linked to thousands of babies born with underdeveloped brains.
Eliminating breeding spots and controlling mosquito populations can help prevent the spread of the virus.
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“The virus strain in the first case in Klang might have been “imported” from Singapore and is what we call a “French Polynesia” virus, which is a virus from outside, not from here”.
