Health Minister: Brazil is ‘Losing Battle’ Against Mosquito

The guidelines come after thousands of infants in Brazil were born with microcephaly, which was believed to be linked to Zika infections.

Unlike Lassa fever, an acute viral haemorrhagic disease – the host, a rodent known as the “multimammate rat” of the genus Mastomys – which is now ripping apart the shores of Nigeria, and has sent a sizeable number of Nigerians to early grave, the mosquito-borne Zika disease – now found in Brazil – has raged in South America and other regions for several months.

The Zika virus, transmitted by mosquitoes, causes an illness that is normally mild in adults – but is now suspected of causing birth defects.

Around 80% of infections do not result in symptoms.

Brazil has recorded 3,893 microcephaly cases since an unusual spike in the rare condition was noticed in the country’s northeast in October.

With no treatment and no cure for the Zika virus, Ross says there are lots of questions about its effects. So far, outbreaks of the virus have been reported in 21 countries and territories, including Puerto Rico.

Marcelo Castro said that almost 220,000 members of Brazil’s Armed Forces would go door-to-door to help in mosquito eradication efforts ahead of the country’s Carnival celebrations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed late yesterday afternoon that an Arkansas resident has tested positive for Zika virus.

“Many experts, including the CDC, have warned those in the south, particularly Florida, that there is great risk for awful consequences from Zika virus”, wrote Walter J. Tabachnick, former director of the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, in an opinion piece published in the Miami Herald.

“But we’re not entirely sure yet whether some of the Australian mosquitoes could carry Zika virus”.

Unfortunately, there is no vaccine available to control this disease, RT News reported.

If travel is unavoidable, they should take precautions to avoid bites from mosquitoes that spread the disease.

The virus is spread through mosquito bites, and there have been outbreaks in parts of the Caribbean and Latin America.

Officials said that health professionals should consider the virus as a potential diagnosis of patients suffering from fever after returning from the Americas.

The World Health Organization says Zika is rapidly spreading in the Americas because it is new to the region, people aren’t immune to it, and the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries it is just about everywhere – including along the southern United States. The government of Colombia, where the disease is now rampant, is advising women not to get pregnant.