The WHO said on Friday US government scientists and an Indian biotechnology firm were now front-runners in the race to develop a vaccine.
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“We have been in close contact with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as infectious disease specialists with expertise regarding the Zika virus”.
A Declaration of Public Health Emergency has been issued for the counties of residents with travel-associated cases.
Those who are infected are instructed not to travel to north Queensland, where the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in that area could bite them and begin transmitting the virus locally.
SOUTHCOM is also offering voluntary relocation to all pregnant DOD employees and beneficiaries.
The woman, from the southeast region, was diagnosed on Tuesday after returning from overseas where she contracted the virus.
With ongoing operations around the world, the Army continues to strive to protect the health and readiness of total force and their Families.
Still, Dr. Muller says there’s only a strong suspicion Zika is responsible for the birth defects.
Alabama is now one of at least 12 states with a confirmed case of the Zika Virus.
“The Zika virus is not present in Australian mosquitoes and there is no risk to the community that this condition will be passed on”.
“This is the strongest evidence to date that Zika is the cause of microcephaly but it’s still not definitive”, he said.
Acting chief health officer Roscoe Taylor said pregnant women who had travelled in those areas who have symptoms of the Zika virus should see their doctor and be tested.
Symptoms of Zika may include fever, rash, conjunctivitis and joint pain, officials say.
The Zika virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947, and until a year ago was not thought to pose serious health risks.
The virus, spreading quickly across the Americas, is usually transmitted by mosquitoes, and is linked to brain deformities in babies.
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The University of Sao Paulo said it was monitoring 3,000 pregnant women as part of research into a link between Zika and microcephaly.
