The World Health Organization has declared Zika a global health emergency as it spreads through the Americas.
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Someone who visited Venezuela and was infected there developed Zika symptoms as did their sexual partner who never left the United States, he said on Twitter. But in recent outbreaks, the virus as been linked to alarming upticks in cases of microcephaly, a birth defect that leaves babies with severely shrunken heads and skulls, as well as a paralyzing neurological condition called Guillain-Barré syndrome. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the sexual transmission.
Pregnant women travelling to countries with the Zika virus should apply Australian mosquito repellent from early morning, says an expert.
The Preventive Medicine Department also advises pregnant women to avoid travel in areas where Zika is active.
The most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain, or conjunctivitis (red eyes).
According to World Health Organization, there have been around 4,000 reported cases of microcephaly in Brazil alone since October previous year.
The CDC has not confirmed that the virus was transmitted sexually.
Zika is carried by mosquitoes and has been linked to thousands of suspected cases of underdeveloped brains.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan told reporters that co-ordinated worldwide action was needed to improve detection and expedite work on a vaccine and better diagnostics for the disease, but said curbs on travel or trade were not necessary.
The Pan American Health Organisation says Zika has spread in 24 nations and territories in the Americas. Outbreaks of Zika virus disease have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Southern Asia and the Western Pacific.
“We should all be anxious about microcephaly”, she said.
Zachary Thompson, director of the Dallas County Health and Human Services said,”It’s very rare but this is not new, we always looked at the point that this could be transmitted sexually”.
“Mass community engagement” in areas with the mosquitos and their breeding grounds, and rapid development of diagnostic tools are essential to curbing the virus, as a vaccine may be years away, said Costello, a paediatrician.
‘That outbreak won’t be caused by infected mosquitoes coming back from South America, it will be triggered by travellers coming back infected with the virus.
Experts have said a Zika vaccine for widespread use is months if not years away. Reports have alleged the virus has spread through sex in the past with one Tahiti man’s semen testing positive for the virus and another Colorado researcher becoming viral after traveling outside the USA passing it on to his wife in 2008 reports The Associated Press.
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The infection was detected in two residents who recently returned to Sydney from the Caribbean, but Health Minister Jillian Skinner has told people not to panic.
