The Zika virus has prompted a travel warning for two dozen countries, and cases have now popped up in the United States.
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The virus is spread by biting mosquitoes.
Dr. Beth Bell of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told VOA “For most people, the Zika virus is not a problem”.
Now that it’s potentially linked to a serious birth defect – babies born with microcephaly (smaller heads), which affects brain development – there is much more concern.
In neighboring Ecuador, the government has confirmed 22 cases this month in six provinces in the nation’s Andean foothills and Pacific coastal regions, including the Galapagos Islands, the country’s Health Ministry said Thursday. That isn’t the case for Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cape Verde, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guadalupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Saint Martin, Samoa, Suriname, and Venezuela where outbreaks are reported now.
CNN’s Shasta Darlington visited what’s become as “ground zero” for the Zika virus: Recife, Brazil and met a woman whose infant son has the birth defect linked to the virus.
“Although it is possible that persons travelling overseas may contract the virus, the Zika virus does not present a significant public health risk to Canadians”.
Zika virus is spread to people through mosquito bites.
“They don’t have a curent treatment right now so we are waiting to see if they develop anything”, Boukouris said.
“We want to be clear that Zika can not be transmitted through casual contact”, Dr. Robinson said on a conference call with reporters.
The Federal Ministry of Health in Nigeria has issued a travel restriction to Latin America, especially by pregnant women until the Zika Virus outbreak situation improves.
The mother may show only mild or even no symptoms, but the Zika virus can enter her bloodstream and cross the placenta to infect her unborn baby.
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned Zika is “spreading explosively”, predicting up to 4m cases this year.
