The warning comes after an estimated 4000 babies in Brazil have been born with a serious birth defect called microcephaly, small heads, often with brain damage that seems connected to the virus.
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After taking patients’ blood samples, he said, the institute noticed that numerous samples were not infected by dengue fever virus, and carried out further research into the samples.
“They’re not sure exactly how Zika affects babies”, Smit said.
The virus causes a mild fever and rashes but 80 percent of the infected show no symptoms.
The race is on to find a vaccine, as the mosquito-born Zika virus takes hold in the Americas. Since the outbreak was detected there last year, 3,718 cases of microcephaly have been reported, compared to an average 163 cases a year before that. Brazilian officials still say they believe there’s a sharp increase in cases of microcephaly and strongly suspect the Zika virus, which first appeared in the country past year, is to blame.
The health department also said that there have been no locally-transmitted Zika cases reported in Georgia or anywhere in the US, but cases have been reported in returning travelers.
The health official said the threat is even amplified by the existence of the El Niño phenomenon, since there will be more potential mosquito-breeding sites, such as water containers.
“What we are seeing, the handful of cases we’ve had are imported”, said Coastal Health District Health Director Doctor Diane Weems. The US Centers for Disease Control plans to conduct a study to determine if any relationship exists between the Zika virus infection and GBS.
A Zika virus infection can only be confirmed by a laboratory diagnosis and the Pacific Islands overall have very limited capacity for Zika testing. It has already swept through 23 countries in the Americas.
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The World Health Organization says it’s having an emergency meeting on Monday to decide if the outbreak should be considered an worldwide health emergency.
