A Western Australian adult who recently returned from central America has tested positive to Zika virus, the state’s Department of Health says.
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The announcement came hours after The Associated Press revealed that global health officials were frustrated at Brazil’s refusal to share enough viral samples and other information to answer the most worrying question about the outbreak: Whether the disease is truly causing a spike in babies born with abnormally small heads.
Zika is transmitted from infected mosquitoes to people, from infected pregnant mothers to babies and possibly through sexual activity. One other person has been diagnosed with a potentially paralyzing condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome that has been linked to the virus.
Spain’s health ministry sought to ease concerns, pointing out that all seven patients had caught the disease while overseas.
Federal health officials are stepping up their warnings of the virus, which was transmitted sexually in Texas for the first time this week – the first locally transmitted case in the U.S.
Simor, an infectious disease specialist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, said if a patient comes back ill from a Zika-infected country they need to tell their physician, so they can also be monitored for GBS.
Representatives of major public health institutions of the two countries will meet later this month to discuss the issue, the report said. Health officials think Zika might be connected to the rise in birth defects in the Americas, though it has not yet been proven. All cases in Florida are still travel-related and do not include any pregnant women.
Generally so mild that it only causes symptoms in about one out of five cases, Zika began to raise alarm bells after doctors here started to notice a possible link between the virus – spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito – and the birth defect microcephaly.
The CDC says avoiding sexual contact with potential Zika patients is probably wise.
NSW public health authorities confirmed on Tuesday two people have contracted the virus in the state.
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The American Red Cross yesterday asked donors returning from Zika-hit countries to postpone giving blood for at least 28 days, and Canadian Blood Services yesterday announced a temporary 21-day deferral period for anyone who has traveled outside of Canada or the continental United States or Europe.
