The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday confirmed that thirteen Indian nationals have tested positive for Zika virus in Singapore.
Advertisement
Mr Arrmanatha told journalists that the patient had tested positive for Zika.
Singapore’s Ministry of Health has confirmed that Zika virus is on a surge in the country, with 115 locally-transmitted cases, including a pregnant woman.
Zika is most harmful to pregnant women’s developing fetus.
However, Zika virus can be spread from a pregnant woman to her fetus and has been linked to microcephaly and other birth defects in babies of mothers who had Zika virus while pregnant.
Zika is only one of several diseases that can be spread by mosquitoes.
In a joint statement with the National Environment Agency (NEA), the health ministry said it identified another potential cluster of Zika virus infection in east Singapore, involving three previously reported cases.
The woman’s husband and family members who lived in the same house with her, have yet to show any symptoms of Zika infection, said the minister, but the husband also went to Singapore during the same period to visit their daughter.
“However, to protect patient’s privacy, Singapore’s Health Ministry only conveyed that the patient is a female”, Arrmanatha said in a weekly press conference at the Foreign Ministry’s Office in Jakarta on Thursday, September 1, 2016. Conjunctivitis, or red eyes, are a hallmark of Zika that sets it apart.
“We have been informed yesterday by MOH (the Ministry of Health) that of those tested positive, as of 12 noon on 30 August, 6 are Bangladeshi nationals”, Reuters quoted Mahbub Uz Zaman, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Singapore, as saying.
In the meantime, Singapore residents are advised to avoid mosquito bites by using mosquito repellent, wearing covered clothing and sleeping under mosquito nets or in air-conditioned rooms. If you have recently returned from countries were Zika is active, monitor your health for the next 14 days and be sure to inform your doctor of your travel history.
Advertisement
Ever since the Zika outbreak in Brazil past year and its spread through and out of South America, public health experts have been anticipating with some trepidation what might happen if the virus comes to India.
