The US researchers are working on two potential vaccines for the Zika virus, but warned that it will likely take years before these are ready for use, a senior US health officials said.
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Dr. Dana Devine, chief medical and scientific officer for Canadian Blood Services, said the agency expects to block donations from people who have traveled to countries affected by the Zika virus for “a number of weeks” after their return, Toronto’s Globe and Mail newspaper reported. “Nadda directed constitution of a technical group with immediate effect which would monitor the situation arising out of spread of Zika virus in other countries and will advise further on all the necessary steps that need to be taken”, an official statement said. According to health authorities, the virus may trigger a brain abnormality called microcephaly (abnormal smallness of the head) in new-born babies though the link is yet to be established.
The tropical virus is blamed for cases of brain damage in babies as it sweeps through Latin America, and Rousseff, whose government is deploying 220,000 soldiers to help eradicate the mosquitoes that transmit it, likened the outbreak to a battle.
“The spread of the Zika virus in South America and other regions, affecting so many mothers and fathers and children, is heartbreaking and its threat to the United States is of big concern”, Sen.
As it stands now, the Zika virus has spread to 25 countries.
Rousseff said an operation to eliminate breeding areas for the Aedes aegypti mosquito has begun at all installations run by the armed forces and at all federal educational, health and other facilities. There is now no vaccine or treatment for the virus.
Public Health England advised: “If a female partner is at risk of getting pregnant, or is already pregnant, condom use is advised for a male traveller for 28 days after his return from a Zika transmission area if he had no symptoms of unexplained fever and rash”. As of January 5, 2016, locally acquired cases have been reported in Brazil, Chile (Easter Island), Colombia, El Salvador, French Guyana, Guatemala, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Suriname and Venezuela.
Further adding to the situation are traces of the Zika virus that were found in semen, thereby triggering an investigation by experts into the possibility that the virus can be transmitted sexually.
The virus was first isolated in 1947 from a rhesus macaque monkey from Zika forest in Uganda.
Brazil’s health minister said his country is investigating a dozen confirmed deaths of babies born with microcephaly. There are 20 countries with confirmed cases of Zika.
“Last year the virus was detected in the Americas, where it is now spreading explosively”.
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Schuchat said that “it’s very rare for a person with Zika to get seriously ill or to die” from it. A spokeswoman said Australian laboratories could diagnose the virus if required. It’s also urging people to destroy mosquito-breeding places.
