US Virgin Islands reports its first Zika virus case

The countries affected are: Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cape Verde, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala Guyana, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin Suriname, Venezuela, Puerto Rico.

El Salvador has urged women there to avoid getting pregnant until 2018 to avoid their children developing birth defects from the mosquito-borne Zika virus. Officials say doctors should ask pregnant women about their travel and certain symptoms, and, if warranted, test them for an infection with the Zika virus. The recently disocverd case is the first in the United States with the Zika virus infection being a tropical illness now found in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

“There is an alarming incidence of what we call microcephaly in the fetus of the baby”. It is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also spreads dengue and chikungunya.

Brazil is experiencing the largest known outbreak of Zika, with most cases in the north-east.

Researchers now believe that it is caused by the mosquito-borne virus first seen in Africa in 1947.

The Zika virus broke out more than nine months ago there. In adults these symptoms usually disappear within a weak. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon and case fatality is low. Epidemiologist, Elizabeth Schiffman says travelers should know about it. “It’s something that people should be aware of because it can make you sick, even if you are only mildly ill”. If they become ill, they should tell their healthcare professional where they have traveled and when.

According to official figures, almost 100 pregnant women contracted the virus but so far none have given birth to a baby with birth defects. Mosquito prevention strategies include wearing long-sleeved shirts and long trousers, using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – registered insect repellents, using permethrin-treated clothing and gear, and staying and sleeping in screened-in or air-conditioned rooms. Brazilian disease specialists also said earlier this week that more patients who may have been infected with Zika virus have been diagnosed this year with Guillain-Barré syndrome, the New York Times reported.