Some travelers from the neighboring country, Malaysia, have also been reported to be positive for Zika virus infection after visiting Singapore. “Estimates suggest that if trends continue, at least one in four people, including women who become pregnant, may become infected with the Zika virus”.
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Muhammad Subuh, the director general for disease prevention and control at Indonesia’s health ministry, in the report said, “At the moment we can not go out there and test everybody or every suspected case for Zika because it is too costly”.
Researchers will investigate different types of mosquitoes as well as the Aedes aegypti mosquito which commonly transmits the virus.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about mosquito-borne diseases.
“Perhaps it could’ve been a little bit better coordinated in a way so that the health departments were prepared for it”, said Dr. Wilson. See your healthcare provider if you are pregnant and have traveled to a Zika-affected area within the last 12 weeks.
The relation between Zika virus and microcephaly is widely assumed to be causal because of strong evidence of an association.
Zika is not new; the virus was first isolated in Africa in 1947.
“So far out of the 67 cases in LA County, 11 of them have been pregnant women.”
Seven cases of Zika were found in Cambodia between 2007 and 2010, according to the Health Ministry, but the patients made a full recovery and the cases did not lead to birth defects.
Apart from measuring the size of the head the researchers also collected samples of unbilical cord blood, corebrospinal fluid as well as peripheral blood in some cases.
In a study conducted among newborns in Brazil – hardest hit by a joint outbreak – almost half of 32 infants with microcephaly had traces of Zika virus in their blood or cerebrospinal fluid, the team reported.
Zika virus is transmitted to people primarily through a species of mosquitoes not found in MI and also can be passed through sex from people who have Zika to their partners, even if the infected person does not have symptoms at the time.
Following a seemingly uncontainable outbreak of the Zika virus in many parts of the globe, scientists are concerned that the world may still not be ready to face the aftereffects brought about by the plague-like virus.
“I can’t speculate as to why there’s a delay”, she said. “There’s other things to be more vigilant about than the Zika virus”.
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Zika is particularly risky to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects.
