The state health department said it is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to continue to monitor new developments in the virus. “The illness may include a fever, a rash which is sometimes itchy, and joint pains”, Dr Taylor said.
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Zika virus is mainly spread through two species of mosquitoes and is active in Central and South America, as well as the Pacific islands.
But tests for this more fatal disease which kills hundreds in Brazil each year, proved negative, leading to the patient being positively tested for Zika. The news comes days after officials said that a pregnant woman in the northern state of Queensland tested positive Tuesday. There is now no vaccine to prevent Zika or medicine to treat it. The national health body said public health experts have evaluated this case and believed that the risk of spreading of the virus due to this imported case is “extremely” low due to low temperature.
Victorian Chief Health Officer Dr Roscoe Taylor said it was unlikely the virus would spread to mosquitos in Australia. Still, four out of five people infected will have no symptoms or just mild symptoms.
Hawaii officials said the baby’s mother likely contracted the virus while living in Brazil a year ago and passed it on while her child was in the womb.
The Aedes mosquito bites an infected person and then carries the virus to another person it bites. Pregnant women have been advised not to go for now due to growing evidence the mosquito-borne virus can cause microcephaly – babies born with abnormally small heads and affected brain development.
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“However, we are advising all people, but especially pregnant women, or women who may be trying or intending to get pregnant, to avoid travelling to those countries and places where there has been Zika outbreaks”. CDC has confirmed a US case of Zika virus infection in a non-traveler after the person’s sexual partner returned from an affected country and developed symptoms.
