One WHO scientist said the Americas could see up to 4 million cases of Zika in the next year.
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Tompkins says about 80 percent of those who get infected with the Zika virus don’t even realize they’re infected.
Malaysia is at high risk for the spread of the Zika virus due to a large Aedes mosquito population and a lack of immunity, the Health Ministry said on Friday (Jan 29).
Zika has been clinically linked to a foetal deformation known as microcephaly, in which infants are born with abnormally small heads and brains.
On Thursday, the head of the World Health Organization said that Zika virus was “spreading explosively” through the Americas and convened an emergency committee to meet in Geneva on February 1 to provide “advice on the appropriate level of worldwide concern and for recommended measures”.
All of the cases involved people returning to the United States from countries where the Zika virus is spreading, she said.
Adults infected with Zika could have fever and a rash or conjunctivitis, but most people show no symptoms.
CDC officials say the disease is now in more than 20 countries, mostly in Central and South America.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has issued a warning about traveling to 13 South American countries, especially women who are pregnant. It’s spread by the Aedes mosquito.
New York City Commissioner of Health Mary Bassett said people should be careful considering where to spend their winter holidays. “The mosquitoes species itself could make its way up here but if it hasn’t actually been involved in a cycle of Zika virus transmission in the states then we are still safe”.
“So, that’s part of the reason we are trying to get the information out to countries that have got the vector but may not yet have the virus – look now for the virus”, he added.
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Reports of Zika virus disease so far have been confined to Mexico’s southern states, and February temperatures in Juárez are too cold for mosquitoes, he said.
