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First Pregnant Woman Diagnosed with Zika in Singapore

The Zika virus has mild effects on most people, but can be fatal for unborn children.

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The Health Ministry had assigned paramedics in eight seaports in Batam, Bintan and Karimun, Riau Islands, regions that commonly serve trips to Singapore.

On top of Singapore, the Zika virus has been spreading in other Asian countries.

Official statistics may underestimate the size of the epidemic caused by Zika virus as some Zika cases may be misreported as dengue, say Brazilian researchers.

On Thursday, Singapore said half of the cases found so far involved foreigners – including 23 Chinese nationals, 15 Indians and 10 Bangladeshis – adding that most patients had recovered.

The woman and her baby are being closely monitored by the by doctors, the Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) said.

Since July, authorities have linked a couple dozen cases to transmission in small areas of Miami’s Wynwood district and the popular South Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach.

Singapore’s Tourism Board has said it is premature to consider any impact on the tourism industry, stressing the tropical city-state remains a “safe travel destination”.

“Over time, we expect Zika cases to emerge from more areas”, Singapore’s Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong said in a statement on Wednesday. Of the total, 2,487 were travel-related and one was acquired in a laboratory. “The CDC is performing an additional test to verify that this is Zika and to identify the strain of the virus”.

“A best-case scenario would be the existence of previously unknown widespread Zika-virus immunity in Asia and Africa”.

The World Health Organisation, which has declared Zika an global public health emergency, is holding a regular meeting of its Zika emergency committee on Thursday to review the spread of the disease.

“There is nothing to worry about …”, IEDCR Director Prof Mirjadi Mehjabin Flora told new agency BSS. He said he did not know how the woman learned she had Zika or where she received medical treatment.

The poll released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation found 48 percent would be uncomfortable traveling to U.S. Zika infection areas.

Miami Beach officials have known since last week that mosquito counts were high in three areas of the city after the Florida Department of Health notified them of their findings and their plans to test in those areas.

It added, however, that as part of its standard operations, an overtly ill traveller entering the U.S. might be referred for further medical evaluation. “It will find its way somehow to breed”, said Gimenez.

The authorities have issued an advisory for pregnant women warning of travel to designated active transmission zones in Florida.

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Malaysia and neighbouring Indonesia have stepped up preventive measures following the Singapore outbreak, intensifying checks on people arriving from Singapore, introducing thermal scanners and posting paramedics at airports and border checkpoints.

Brazos County Health Department confirms second Zika virus case