But it’s calling a crisis meeting for Monday on whether to declare Zika an worldwide health emergency. “They went to their doctors and were tested for the virus and were found to have it”.
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There is no vaccines against the virus and no treatment specific for Zika.
WHO’S AT RISK: Most people infected by Zika virus do not get sick.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued travel alerts for people traveling to any of two dozen Central and South American nations where Zika virus is being transmitted.
Five cases of Zika virus have been diagnosed in United Kingdom travellers as part of the current outbreak, which was first detected outside Africa, Asia and the Pacific islands in May 2015, in Brazil.
Brazil has reported 3,893 suspected cases of microcephaly, the World Health Organization said last week, more than 30 times more than in any year since 2010 and equivalent to one-two per cent of all newborns in the state of Pernambuco, one of the worst-hit areas.
State Epidemiologist Louisa Castrodale said Zika is spread by mosquitos that live in warmer climates, not the variety that live in Alaska.
Nigeria’s minister of health Isaac Adewole said the travel restriction, especially on pregnant women, will be on until the situation improves worldwide.
Symptoms include fever, headache, red eyes, rash or muscle pain.
New Zealand officials say there’ve been nine reported cases in the country in January, eight of them have made a full recovery and one man remains in Waikato Hospital, in a stable condition.
The Health Ministry is taking precautionary measures to prevent the Zika virus from South America from spreading to Malaysia.
Taylor says women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, consult a health-care practitioner before travelling to a region where the virus is circulating.
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The virus, which is carried by mosquitoes, causes flu-like symptoms in adults but has been linked to birth defects, such as shrunken brains, in the babies of those affected.
