Representatives of the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have been conducting research on the Zika virus along with local experts in Brazil since the country reported Zika infection cases, according to the ministry.
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The health agency also on Friday updated its guidelines for testing and monitoring pregnant women who have travelled to Zika areas.
The Zika virus is linked to brain deformities in babies and is causing concern among public health officials worldwide.
The World Health Organization has called Zika a “global emergency” and the CDC has advised pregnant women not to travel to the 30 countries in Latin America where Zika has been actively transmitted.
While aedes aegypti mosquitoes like the one here are the main spreaders of Zika, there have been cases – including one in Texas recently – of the disease being sexually transmitted. At the moment, it is technically illegal for Brazilian researchers and institutes to share genetic material, including blood samples containing Zika and other viruses.
Typically, only a fifth of those afflicted with Zika notice its mild symptoms, including a moderate fever and a rash. In Spain, scientists have a Ugandan strain of Zika supplied by the United States.
The outbreak of the Zika virus in Central and South America is now starting to impact on the travel plans of some New Brunswickers. Officials say doctors should ask pregnant women about their travel and certain symptoms, and, if warranted, test them for an infection with the Zika virus.
The type of mosquito that is known to carry the Zika virus, Aedes aegypti, is rarely found in Kentucky, said Dr. Grayson Brown, entomologist in the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environment.
This strategy is being tested in Brazil and other countries with impressive results.
Laurinaldo Alves adjusts the pacifier of his daughter Luana Vitoria, who suffers from microcephaly, during a physical stimulation session at the Altino Ventura foundation, a treatment center that provides free health care, in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016. So far in the USA, there have been confirmed cases of Zika virus in Dallas, Georgia and Florida. “Recent dengue outbreaks in Hawaii or Key West are probably good examples of the magnitude of outbreak that we would expect if a Zika outbreak occurred in the USA”.
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Dr Lorraine Doherty, Assistant Director of Public Health at the PHA, said: “The PHA is working with Public Health England on monitoring the virus and we are issuing advice to healthcare professionals in Northern Ireland on appropriate actions that may need to be taken”. New says you should also wear a repellant when you’re outside.
