Florida officials on Thursday said they have trapped the first mosquitoes that tested positive for the Zika virus in the Miami area, further confirming reports of local US transmission of the illness.
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The statement did not say where the other two cases were from.
Indonesia and Malaysia have intensified monitoring of border points for passengers arriving from Singapore, while Indonesian health official Muhammad Subuh said those arriving from the city will be given a card telling them to report to hospitals if they show Zika symptoms within 10 days of arrival.
“The analysis found that the virus belongs to the Asian lineage and likely evolved from the strain that was already circulating in Southeast Asia”.
Prof Azad said the incoming travellers would be provided with a form, which they would have to fill up detailing information on the countries they come from and if they were infected by Zika virus.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup had yesterday said Indian Embassy in Singapore has reported that 13 Indians have been affected by Zika virus.
Authorities in Singapore, a regional financial centre and transit hub, said they had detected 189 people with the Zika virus in total, including two pregnant woman. “There is a high possibility that the Zika infection was transmitted locally (as the patient has not travelled overseas recently and was likely bitten by an Aedes mosquito carrying Zika)”, he said.
World Health Organization also noted that Brazil has not reported any confirmed cases of Zika following the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Benign in most people, Zika has been linked to a form of severe brain damage called microcephaly which causes newborns’ heads to be abnormally small, and to rare adult-onset neurological problems such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which can result in paralysis and death.
“Though we know much more about Zika after the first seven months, there’s still an urgent need to continue sustained and global research”, David Heymann, chair of the WHO’s Emergency Committee, said at a news conference about the committee’s latest meeting, which was held on Thursday.
The city-state announced the first locally contracted case of Zika last Saturday, and the number of diagnosed infections has grown steadily.
Though not common, people with the virus can experience symptoms of fever, rash, joint pain, headache and red eyes.
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Nearly 80 percent of people infected with the virus will have no symptoms.
