“The situation does not compromise the Olympics”, Rousseff said.
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Similar to dengue fever, the Zika virus is transmitted to people primarily through mosquito bites, and common symptoms include fever frequently accompanied by a maculopapular rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis, as well as headaches, muscle pain or retro-orbital pain.
The World Health Organization says the most recent outbreak of the disease, which was diagnosed in Brazil last April, has now spread to 26 countries in the Americas. On February 11, Brazil noted its third Zika-related death. But if an adult male infected with the virus has unprotected sex with a woman, leading to a pregnancy, that child is potentially at risk of microcephaly.
Rousseff spoke to reporters after visiting houses in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro as part of the national anti-Zika campaign.
The public action phase involves 220 thousand military personnel from the army, navy and air force.
The institute said 29.4 percent of pregnant women with Zika live in Norte de Santander province, along the eastern border with Venezuela. “We don’t want them to be bothered [by this] so they can concentrate on their training and bring home an Olympic medal”, Lee Suy told reporters at a recent health forum.
“The government is taking the lead but that alone won’t win the war”, she said. “Fortunately the Olympics are about six months away so I believe we have time to get some of our doubts and questions answered” quipped Solo. The spread of the virus has coincided with an apparent surge in cases of microcephaly, a disease among babies born with abnormally small heads, and related hearing and sight impairments, as well as possible learning disabilities.
While “no scientific evidence to date confirms a link between Zika virus and microcephaly or GBS”, the agency pointed out that GBS was also observed during the 2013-14 Zika virus outbreak in French Polynesia.
Another 3,852 suspected cases were being studied. We must fight the mosquito as it carries the virus.
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Colombia reported Saturday that there was a sharp increase in Zika virus cases in the country, with an announced total of 31,555 cases, including 5,013 pregnant women.
