Health officials at the recent conference said awareness efforts need to target pregnant women especially.
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The resident experienced symptoms of fever, rash, fatigue and joint pain upon return to the US and sought medical attention from a health care provider. The symptoms continued after she returned to Taiwan and she was diagnosed with Zika after visiting a hospital on September 4 and September 5.
Surveillance of the infected people will remain active in the area for the next 30 days and in districts adjacent to Sathon. “The safest thing for pregnant women and those expecting to become pregnant is to avoid going overseas”.
Zika was first reported in Thailand in 2012, and the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority has been conducting regular screen tests on its residents since then. According to the Straits Times, the National Environment Agency said that they are still carrying out vector control operations in all areas where cases have been found.
Zika, which is spread mainly by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, has been detected in 67 countries and territories, including Brazil.
Atlantic County Public Health Officer Patricia Diamond said the resident is now doing well and is in recovery. The team’s experiment adds more evidence to the growing body of research linking Zika to congenital brain disorders, essentially proving a definitive connection between the mosquito-borne virus and conditions like microcephaly – a condition that results in babies born with abnormally small heads and potential brain damage.
On Saturday, it reported its first suspected locally transmitted case, a man in the eastern state of Sabah.
The lineage of the virus circulating in Asia is different to the one in the Americas, researchers say.
One of the compounds prevents Zika from replicating itself within the body and the other stops the virus from killing a fetus’ brain cells that lead to birth defects.
The age, sex, and relationship of the new cases were not revealed “to protect the privacy of the patients”.
Island city-state Singapore reported its first locally infected Zika patient on August 27 and since then, the number of reported infections has swelled to more than 300.
“The patient is doing well and recovering nicely”, stated Diamond.
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The findings mark the first time that a monkey has shown signs of “congenital Zika syndrome” – the range of health problems linked with Zika virus infection in the womb. “Zika can be sexually transmitted for eight weeks after acute illness for females and up to six months after acute illness in males, so those planning on being pregnant must be alert”.
