Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial has also advised pregnant women to avoid travel to countries with reported Zika cases and transmissions, adding that it is very risky for pregnant women to get infected with the virus as this has been linked to birth of babies with severe brain and other neurological defects including microcephaly.
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The ongoing Zika outbreak has been largely confined to South and Central America and the Caribbean.
The patients are presented with mild symptoms and have either recovered or recovering.
A health official in Indonesia said Monday the country can not afford to thoroughly check for a possible Zika outbreak, as Southeast Asia’s most populous country must focus on fighting dengue, a potentially fatal virus carried by the same mosquitoes.
But there have been several dozen cases of locally transmitted Zika in the Miami area, prompting US health officials to urge women who are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant to take health precautions.
However, DOH confirmed the reported case of a 45-year old female in Iloilo.
That finding strengthened the suspected link between infection with the virus and the syndrome, which causes temporary paralysis in its victims.
Congress broke for its summer recess without approving additional funding.
“Such a measure is needed to prevent the spread of the Zika virus to others in the state”, he said Monday. There’s a high risk that Zika could start circulating in New Orleans or Houston.
“WHO recommends practising safer sex or abstinence for a period of six months for men and women who are returning from areas of active transmission.to prevent Zika virus infection through sexual transmission”, the agency said.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) lists Indonesia among Asian countries with possible endemic transmission of, or evidence of, local Zika infections, but authorities in the sprawling country of 250 million people have yet to report any recent infections.
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This Q & A will tell you what you need to know about Zika.
