Brazil has seen the most Zika cases in Latin America, and recently a leading Brazilian health official recommended that women in the hard-hit northeastern region postpone pregnancy.
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At present, there is no vaccine available to treat the Zika virus.
Unreported cases and patients with no symptoms of infection could mean that there are between 80,000 and 100,000 current Zika infections in Colombia, Gaviria has said.
Among them are 3,177 pregnant women.
A man spread the virus to another man, according to a source close to the public health investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to release the information.
Planes landing at United Kingdom airports including nearby Luton from areas affected by Zika are to be sprayed with insecticide as part of the Government’s response to the outbreak.
“Laws and policies that restrict (women’s) access to these services must be urgently reviewed in line with human rights obligations in order to ensure the right to health for all in practice”, Zeid said.
Brazil’s health ministry said it had been collaborating with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to try to nail down whether Zika causes Guillain-Barré. When asked Thursday about the importance of sharing samples, senior World Health Organization official Dr. Sylvie Briand said that obtaining the latest strains wasn’t critical because the mosquito-borne virus had not mutated.
Ospina says the cases confirm that Zika can cause deaths – though most worldwide experts are still cautious about whether Zika can trigger Guillain-Barre.
Those who are symptomatic usually develop a fever, red eyes and rashes.
Both the US CDC and Fiocruz in Brazil said more research was needed on person-to-person transmission. What they do know is the virus contracted through the bite of an infected mosquito and can be sexually transmitted.
The CDC said men with a pregnant partner who live in or have traveled to an area of active Zika transmission should use condoms during sex with their partner or abstain from sex for the duration of the pregnancy.
It was in 1952 that the first human cases were reported in Uganda and Tanzania.
Florida’s warm climate, year-round mosquitoes and revolving door of global travelers make it vulnerable to the Zika virus, but local governments aggressively urge people to dump or cover anything on their property that holds water so they don’t end up raising mosquitoes that spread the virus through bites.
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France, South Africa and a number of other nations require some inbound flights to use insecticide before takeoff.
