Zika has mild effects for most people but doctors believe infection during pregnancy can result in babies with small heads, which is known as microcephaly, and other serious developmental disorders.
Advertisement
The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.
Singapore’s Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said on Wednesday night that the pregnant woman was living in the same housing block where one of the neighbours had tested positive for the virus.
Federal funds to combat the Zika virus are almost exhausted and there will be no money to fight a new outbreak unless Congress approves more funding, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
Malaysian authorities confirmed the country’s first cases of Zika virus on Thursday, saying that a 58-year old woman who had visited Singapore had become infected with the virus.
A pest control worker fumigates drains at a local housing estate where the latest case of Zika infections were reported on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, in Singapore. By Tuesday, the number of Zika-infected cases had risen to 115. However, the Singapore government has not disclosed how numerous infected people are foreign workers.
Of the first 56 cases of Zika identified by late Monday, three dozen were foreign workers on a property development site where they worked and lived with more than 450 others. A pregnant woman was among the victims, they said.
The CDC also is advising pregnant women not to travel to an area where active Zika transmission is ongoing, and to use insect repellent and wear long trousers and long-sleeved shirts if they are in those areas.
The outbreak and advisories come as the tourism industry in Singapore already faces weak global economic growth.
Advertisement
Singapore has a chronic problem with dengue, which is spread by the same Aedes mosquito that transmits Zika through bites.
