The virus is transmitted by the same type of mosquitoes that spread dengue and Singapore has suffered a spike in dengue cases this month.
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The symptoms of Zika virus are “really nonspecific and it overlaps with a lot of things, especially with dengue virus and chikungunya“, says Aliota.
In a statement Tuesday, the Aarhus University Hospital said the patient ran a fever, had a headache and muscle aches and was discovered as having the virus on Tuesday.
Despite a lack of symptoms, the mosquito-born virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Santos says 170 communities have been affected and the virus could affect as many as 600,000 people in his country this year. For example, it is not clear how common Zika infections are in pregnant women, or when during a pregnancy a woman is most at risk of transmitting the virus to her fetus.
The relatively new mosquito-borne virus is connected with a neurological disorder that results in babies being born with abnormally small heads.
According to the World Health Organization, at least 22 countries and territories in Central and South America and the Caribbean have seen cases of the virus, including the American territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, which has 19 cases of Zika.
(AP Photo/Felipe Dana). Brazilian Army soldiers take notes as they inspects homes during an operation to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmits the Zika virus in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016.
“It’s important that people get medical help”.
The creation of British biotechnology company Oxitec, this mosquito was genetically modified in 2002 to impede the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes’ territorial expansion and a year ago began to be used in Piracicaba to halt an increase in dengue cases in that city of 460,000 inhabitants. The Colombia strain of the virus can be tracked to Brazil, which can be traced to a strain that originated in French Polynesia. That mosquito would then need to bite another person in order for the disease to be passed on.
There are no global estimates for how many people in the world have been infected by the Zika virus, World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier said on Tuesday.
Aedes aegypti is a small, dark, hot-weather mosquito with white markings and banded legs. “If it wasn’t for the potential association with birth defects, this virus wouldn’t be given almost as much attention”, Bogoch said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease, says he agrees that it’s unlikely that the US will see a widespread outbreak of Zika.
The virus transfers from mother to child during pregnancy; the virus has been linked to underdeveloped brains in babies.
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As it stands, Colombia is only second to Brazil in the number of known Zika infections and with increasing number of infections being reported every day the condition isn’t getting any better.
