The US Virgin Islands Department of Health received confirmation over the weekend of a case positive for zika virus in a 39-year-old male on St Thomas.
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There is not only growing evidence that Zika causes immune reactions leading to abnormally small heads in newborns – a condition known as microcephaly – but also to inflammation of the spinal chord and brain tissue, as well as impaired hearing and sight.
The Centers for Diseases Control (CDC) yesterday said it would not issue a travel alert for South Korea despite Seoul’s confirmation of its first case of Zika virus infection and a specialist’s warning that the virus was likely to affect Taiwan.
Zika is transmitted to people through the bite of infected female mosquitoes, primarily the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same type that spreads dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.
Global health researchers are investigating whether a woman should wait before getting pregnant after visiting a Zika endimic area, and for how long.
Those three diseases have been reported in Kansas by people who got infected elsewhere.
There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika infection.
The DPH, which detected the virus, began testing for Zika virus on February 29 of this year, and 198 samples have been received for testing, with 67 results received so far. Mahmudur Rahman, director of the ministry’s Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, said the man had never travelled outside Bangladesh.
The Department of Public Health says even if you’re not pregnant, you still do not want to contract the virus.
Delaware Division of Public Health announced March 21 the state’s second and third cases of Zika, said Emily Knearl, public health spokeswoman.
“The kind of urgent action called for by this public health emergency should not wait for definitive proof”, she insisted. In the majority of cases, symptoms included rash (97 percent of cases), fever and joint pain.
Officials say that the man traveled to a Caribbean country where the virus is circulating.
For vaccines, 23 projects are being worked on by 14 vaccine developers in the US, France, Brazil, India and Austria, WHO said.
Last month, President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.9 billion to fight the Zika virus.
Meanwhile, during a meeting on mosquito control, the experts concluded that well-implemented control programmes using existing tools and strategies are effective in reducing the transmission of Aedes-borne diseases, including Zika.
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Consider postponing travel to any area where Zika virus transmission is ongoing.
