The World Health Organisation is sounding the alarm, belatedly say its critics, about what it says is an “explosive” threat of the incurable Zika virus spreading.
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Health deputy director-general Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman said the ministry viewed the global situation with great concern since the likelihood that the mosquito-borne disease would spread here is high.
Aedes mosquitoes also are known to transmit dengue fever and chikungunya, a virus that can cause severe fever and joint pain, but New Mexico so far has escaped those diseases, Ettestad said.
More than two dozen in eleven states and Washington DC have tested positive for the Zika virus.
The big fear is if an infected person returns from travel and gets bit by another mosquito, that transfer can start a rapid spread of the illness.
What Is the Zika Virus? Infants with microcephaly have smaller than normal heads and their brains do not develop properly.
According to state health officials, around 80 percent of people who contract the virus have symptoms for up to one week.
The WHO warned on Thursday that the disease, linked to birth defects in thousands of babies, was spreading “explosively” and could affect as many as four million people in the Americas, including 1.5 million in Brazil.
Urging people not to worry about the virus, he asked pregnant women to be careful about mosquito bites.
For now, avoiding mosquitoes is the best way to avoid Zika.
“But it has recently moved into the Americas, South America and Central America, says Epidemiologist Bradley Tompkins of the Vermont Department of Health”. All three cases are confirmed to be non-pregnant women who had traveled to either Colombia or Venezuela.
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The Minister, however, directed the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to include Zika Virus diagnosis as part of the ongoing efforts to manage Lassa fever outbreak. The WHO’s Ms. Chan said that while a direct causal relationship between zika virus infection and birth malformations has not yet been established, it is “strongly suspected“.
