It recommends, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that men who have traveled to or lived in an area with active virus transmission abstain from sex or use condoms throughout their partner’s pregnancy. Besides the guidance by the CDC, health agencies in many nations have asked pregnant women and their sexual partners to stay away from the areas where the virus has spread.
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The experts plan to present their conclusions to country health authorities at the end of their mission. “And the modes of transmission now include sexual intercourse as well as mosquito bites”, Chan said. So far, Brazil confirmed 641 microcephaly cases associated with congenital infection.
She also said nine countries have now reported increasing cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare condition that can cause temporary paralysis and death, in people beyond women of child-bearing age, including children, teenagers and older adults.
Brazil had previously been working with a 32-cm cranial circumference for both sexes to diagnose microcephaly, a birth defect marked by abnormally small heads and that can lead to developmental problems.
Florida’s surgeon general announced Thursday there were six new confirmed cases of Zika virus, bringing the total in the state to 58. Since then, Chan said, “substantial new clinical and epidemiological research has strengthened the association” between infection and microcephaly as well as other neurological disorders.
In particular, travelers who are now or plan to be pregnant have been warned to be aware of the Zika virus. “We can now conclude that Zika virus is neurotropic, preferentially affecting tissues in the brain and brain stem of the developing fetus”, Chan said. They said there has been a growing body of evidence linking the virus to microcephaly after it was found in amniotic fluid. Common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis, or red eyes, lasting as long as a week.
Over a dozen such cases are now under investigation in the United States.
Parliament – There are no mosquitoes capable of spreading the Zika virus in South Africa, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi reiterated on Wednesday.
The PAHO said Zika can be transmitted through blood, but this is an infrequent transmission mechanism.
“The bottom line is that there is yet much to learn about Zika”, Marcos Espinal, director of PAHO/WHO’s Department of Communicable Diseases, said.
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The current outbreak began in May 2015 in Brazil, where there have been reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome and babies born with birth defects.
