The advisories warn expectant mothers and women who are planning to get pregnant to exercise all precautionary measures to avoid contracting the Zika virus when visiting Singapore.
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On Saturday, the health ministry confirmed a first locally-transmitted case, with the tally jumping to 41 a day later amid warnings of more likely positive cases.
This is regardless of whether they have been exposed to Zika-affected areas.
Sexual partners of pregnant women were also advised to practice safe sex or consider abstinence throughout the term of pregnancy. They are also advised to forgo any travel plans to the city-state, especially when it is not considered essential.
In addition, the Philippine embassy also urged Filipinos to observe general preventive measures such as using insect repellants; window and door screens; and wearing long-sleeved shirts and long trousers.
“Read up on the symptoms of Zika”.
“The NEA went to every house, checked the kitchen and bathroom”.
Filipino health workers were encouraged to strictly comply with infection control protocols in their work place.
There is no specific treatment for this condition.
In addition to the 56 cases diagnosed since the weekend, this means that a total of 82 individuals have been infected with the virus that has spread globally, and is particularly harmful to pregnant women.
The Philippine embassy in Washington D.C. has long released an advisory to all Filipinos in the United States to take extra precautions.
“The implications for viral control are clear”, said study author Robert Tesh, director of the World Reference Center for Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses at UTMB.
“As the World Health Organization [WHO] declares the current spread of the Zika virus a public health emergency of global concern, the Philippine government, through the Department of Health, has advised its citizens to remember and use “4S” against Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases”, the embassy said. “There is far less research on the virus in its mosquito host”, Tesh said. We should pay attention because even though the virus was not discovered in your country, everything is possible.
“The Department of Health is closely coordinating with the airport authority and gave a directive to intensify the monitoring”. “We’re going to have continual reintroduction of this virus in people”, he said. The remaining four cases are being investigated for their links to the affected area.
Officials in nearby Indonesia and Malaysia, however, are not taking any risks when it comes to the spread of the Zika virus. Eggs can be destroyed to stop them from hatching Zika-infected larvae-for instance, by adding certain bacteria to the standing water where they were laid-but it’s hard. But in pregnant women, it can cause microcephaly, a deformation in which babies are born with abnormally small brains and heads.
Singaporean health officials announced on August 29 that the number of locally transmitted Zika cases in the city has now reached 56 with the addition of 15 new cases.
Almost all have recovered, but doctors said more Singaporean women were asking to be tested.
They though this virus was happening on the other side of the planet and now they could have it in their houses.
Singapore, despite being regarded for having highest health care standards in Southeast Asia and cleanest city in Asia, is a densely populated tropical island with frequent rain.
In their study, UTMB researchers began with two colonies of Zika-free mosquitoes-one of Aedes aegypti, and one of Aedes albopictus, which has not been connected to the virus. The first case in Singapore was discovered after a man visited Brazil.
But all of the latest cases involved local transmission. This decision was made after more than 40 cases were reported in the suburban district.
“She wanted to find out whether she had the virus in her blood or not”. These steps include: removing standing water from containers and scrubbing them thoroughly to remove eggs and larvae; making sure that if water has to be stored in containers that they are tightly sealed to prevent mosquitoes from laying their eggs inside; and getting rid of trash such as old tires, plastic bottles and cups, and other objects in yards and vacant lots that can collect water and serve as mosquito breeding sites.
The statement also said that NEA has inspected about 5,000 of the estimated 6,000 premises in the Sims Drive and Aljunied Crescent cluster to check for mosquito breeding.
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Contractors in protective gear carried out insecticide fogging in public places, pumping a mosquito-killing mist over large areas on the ground.
