Zika Virus: Singapore Confirms 41 Cases Of Locally Transmitted:- 41 cases of Zika virus which are locally transmitted has been confirmed by the Singapore.
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Singapore clinics on August 29 reported more Zika infections, bringing the suspected total to 50, as mosquito-fighting teams saturated the scene of the outbreak.
The authorities said they have tested 124 people, primarily construction workers.
Workers wearing fumigation masks travelled methodically through high-rise public housing estates in seven separate areas of the island, inspecting plant pots closely as they sprayed insecticide via thermal fogging machines.
The first case in Singapore was discovered after a man visited Brazil.
“In view of the recent first imported case in Hong Kong, we are facing risks of importation of cases”, a CHP spokesman said. “The real danger is to pregnant women as others would just have mild flu-like symptoms that need no hospitalization”, said Ubial in an interview.
All 41 are residents or workers in a particular suburban residential and industrial district, the Ministry of Health and the National Environment Agency said in a joint statement. Symptoms of Zika are similar to other viruses spread through mosquito bites, like dengue and chikungunya.
The Zika virus has gotten a foothold in Singapore, according to authorities in the country.
Asked why the MOH only announced the case of Patient A two days after she was diagnosed – when testing only takes about three to four hours – Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said that the ministry was only alerted to the possibility of more cases when Patient A was confirmed.
Singapore, one of the world’s largest financial centers and busiest travel hubs, said it expected more cases of the mosquito-borne virus which has wreaked havoc in Latin America, the Caribbean and beyond. Because of patient privacy rights under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), no additional identifying information on either Mobile County case will be made available to the public.
In pregnant women, however, it can cause microcephaly, a deformation in which babies are born with abnormally small brains and heads.
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On Aug. 16, Mobile County Health Officer Dr. Bernard H. Eichold II said that a Mobile County woman who had been out of the country had tested positive for the virus, but by the time the test results came back, she had left the country again. Symptoms of the virus include fever, rash, headache, muscle ache and conjunctivitis, although some carriers may not have any symptoms.
