Upon confirming the first case of Zika, the KCDC strongly advised that pregnant women and those considering becoming pregnant consider postponing travel to countries where Zika is circulating, including Mexico, Thailand and Brazil.
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A 42-year-old South Korean man picked up the virus, which has links to the birth defects microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome, while travelling in Brazil, the country’s center for disease control said.
If the Zika virus spreads across the U.S., Kansas mosquitoes could be among the carriers.
The virus is linked to the birth defect microcephaly, a congenital condition associated with incomplete brain development and abnormal smallness of the head.
Of 258 US cases of travel-related Zika virus reported so far in 34 states and the District of Columbia, 18 cases involve pregnant women and another six were sexually transmitted, according to the DPH.
Governments should therefore start expanding their health services to care for these children in the long term, rather than focusing only on individual cases, WHO Director General Margaret Chan said.
Zika is caused by the Zika virus and spread by mosquitoes. The hospital reported his case to Gwangyang health authorities, which confirmed his infection with the virus on genetic testing. The symptoms are usually mild, can include a rash, fever, joint pain, or conjunctivitis and appear a few days after a bite by an infected mosquito. But as many as 80 percent of people infected never develop symptoms.
First discovered in Uganda in 1947, the Zika virus wasn’t thought to pose major health risks until previous year, when it became clear that it posed potentially devastating threats to pregnant women. CDC has additional information online on how travelers can protect themselves and their family members from mosquito bites: http://www.cdc.gov/zika/prevention/index.html. Pregnant women should not travel to areas with Zika, the state says.
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The CDC urged people to take extra precautionary measures to prevent against Zika infection when traveling to Latin America or the Caribbean, where a travel “alert” has been issued. There is no evidence Zika can be transmitted to babies through breast milk.
