The Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday that the limited number of testing kits for the detection of Zika virus infection will only be used for those manifesting real symptoms of the disease.
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Additionally, couples where a male partner who has traveled to an area with Zika transmission “may consider using condoms consistently and correctly during sex or abstaining from sexual activity”, if they are concerned about sexual transmission of the Zika virus.
Because of the suspected link between the virus and the birth defect, called microcephaly, the CDC recommended two weeks ago that pregnant women postpone trips to countries with Zika outbreaks, mostly in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The strong association, in time and place, between infection with the Zika virus and a rise in detected cases of congenital malformations and neurological complications, prompted WHO to form an emergency committee, under International Health Regulations.
The issue is that many people who contract Zika virus might not know they have it. Only 1 in 5 people who have Zika develop symptoms, and those symptoms are typically mild: fatigue, aches, pain, and a skin rash.
Pregnant women who have symptoms consistent with Zika should be tested when they’re ill.
The finding adds to concerns that Zika, which is predominately spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, could also be transmitted by other means – particularly sex.
There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika.
GENEVA/BRASILIA Alarm over the Zika virus spread on Wednesday, as public health officials investigated a report that an American had been infected through sexual contact and Brazil said 4,074 cases of infants with severe birth defects could be linked to the virus.
Because Zika has been linked to microcephaly, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation scientists recommended that pregnant women take special precautions and avoid crowds during Carnival.
In Britain, the National Health Service Blood and Transplant agency has said that from Thursday, anyone returning from Zika-affected countries would be made to wait 28 days before being allowed to donate blood, as a “precautionary measure”.
Rau added the evidence connecting Zika virus to microcephaly is still somewhat “circumstantial”.
“The World Health Organization response can be described as a “guilty-until-proven-innocent” approach”, he said, noting it’s acting “out of an abundance of caution before there is definitive proof that this virus causes microcephaly in large numbers as is suspected in Brazil”.
Still, most global experts are cautious about whether Zika can trigger Guillain-Barre, a rare syndrome that causes paralysis, because other infections and conditions can lead to the illness.
Three women in Washington, DC have contracted the mosquito-born Zika virus, the city’s Department of Health Communications Director Marcus Williams told Sputnik.
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Keaten reported from Geneva.
