The virus linked with the epidemic can cause microcephaly in babies suffering from damaged brains and small heads.
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A public health expert, Lawrence Gostin, said the United Nations health agency had “grossly underestimated” the need as the virus, which has spread rapidly across the Americas, will likely spread to many other regions.
He said New Zealand is not known to have Zika cases, and how the woman contracted the virus was unknown.
“In SA, the local mosquito species, although present‚ is unlikely to act as vectors to transmit Zika virus due to them being different and having a different behavioural pattern compared to the vectors in the current outbreak in South America”, the department said.
Mississippians remain at low risk for becoming infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus, but the state Department of Health on Wednesday advised pregnant women to avoid traveling to countries with ongoing virus transmission.
FDA issued on Tuesday new recommendations to reduce the risk of Zika virus blood transmission for individuals who have been to areas with active Zika virus transmission.
The ministry earlier in the day reported a total of 4,443 suspected and confirmed cases of the rare defect, up from 4,314 a week earlier.
“Until we understand the biological mechanism linking Zika to microcephaly we can not be certain that one causes the other, and further research is urgently needed”. Last week, it was reported that Zika virus can survive in semen for two months, posing potential risks of sexual transmission long after any symptoms, such as a week-long rash, have vanished.
However, it said that if Zika is also tied to the paralysis-causing Guillain-Barre syndrome, if transmission by sexual contact is confirmed or if the public becomes even more anxious about the disease, the economic impact could be “significantly larger”. While the women’s blood and urine samples tested negative for Zika, their amniotic fluid tested positive for the virus genome and for Zika antibodies.
While the link has not yet been scientifically proven, the latest research suggests that the virus can cross the placental barrier.
The Holy See Mission said that the promotion of such a radical response would be “the confirmation of a failure of the global community to stop the spread of the disease”.
The World Health Organization in Vietnam is yet to release any information on links between the insecticide and the symptoms of microcephaly.
Blood donations should not be collected in US territories where Zika is being transmitted.
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If someone is actively infected, the US government has a test that diagnoses Zika fairly well.
