The new guidance is a change from the health agency’s interim recommendation on June 7, which referred only to men and had a shorter timeframe of at least eight weeks.
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This, Mrs Jibrilu said, has been made possible because of The Bahamas mounting a “united campaign” of Zika prevention across all related government ministries and private sector entities, inclusive of the Ministry of Health, the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS), and the Bahamas Hotel & Tourism Association (BHTA). Some mothers who were infected with Zika while pregnant have given birth to babies who have microcephaly, a serious birth defect where a baby’s head is smaller than expected when compared to babies of the same sex and age.
Meanwhile, Senator Risa Hontiveros, chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography urged the DOH to intensify its prevention and detection drive against the Zika virus after the latest case.
In adults, Zika can cause conjunctivitis – redness and itchiness of the eyes – and, in rare cases, uveitis.
INFOGRAPHIC: What is the Zika virus? .
77% of adults recognize the need to delay pregnancy when a woman lives in a Zika-affected area, but awareness is lower for the age group most at risk, 18-to-40-year-olds (68%).
“Most patients who have Zika aren’t going to present to the hospital, but to their primary care doctors”, said Dr. Debra Andree, chief medical officer of Community Health Centers.
The researchers are planning to expand their study to include humans infected with Zika virus.
Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that Zika virus can spread in the eyes of an infected person and that tears may also contain genetic material from the virus.
“Our study suggests that the eye could be a reservoir for Zika virus”.
They are surprised at the “explosive” infection rates they have seen as Zika spreads – and tears might be the key to finding out why.
Mosquitoes that transmit Zika are daytime biters.
“This is of concern due to an association between the Zika virus and adverse pregnancy outcomes, including microcephaly, neurological complications and Guillain-Barré syndrome”, it says.
It was considered “highly likely” she had contracted the virus locally, Tayag said.
Most people who have Zika do not know they have it because they do not show any symptoms, according to the CDC.
During a Zika information session for tourism stakeholders, Director of Tourism Joy Jibrilu said officials are seeking to “arrest the situation” in order to “keep fear at bay” regarding the virus. Sexual transmission of Zika has been reported in 11 countries by the end of August, mainly through vaginal intercourse.
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The team said the eye experiments may yield other useful benefits, such as another noninvasive route for testing and an animal model for testing Zika drug candidates.
