Denmark resident tests positive for Zika virus

The Zika virus, now circulating in 18 countries and territories of Latin America and the Caribbean, is transmitted primarily by Aedes mosquitos, which also transmit chikungunya and dengue viruses and are present in every country of the Americas except Canada and continental Chile, Stephane Dujarric, the United Nations spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here. CDC spokeswoman Candace Hoffman said there were public health teams in place working to improve diagnostic testing for Zika virus and that resources were being pooled from across the agency to respond. Also on Tuesday, the CDC issued a travel alert for the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic.

In some countries women are being asked not to conceive for at least two years because the infection of this virus can result in babies being born with abnormally small heads or with developmental issues, and at worse, be still born.

The mosquito-borne virus has been linked to brain damage in thousands of babies in Brazil. “For most people when they do develop symptoms, they’re really quite mild”. In El Salvador, which has seen around 5,000 cases of Zika, officials are urging women not to get pregnant until 2018.

As of January 16 there have been a total of 13,808 confirmed cases in Colombia, which includes 890 pregnant women, plus an additional 2,611 suspected cases.

Health authorities from Denmark said the patient travelled to South and Central America where the disease has taken hold.

There are no global estimates so far as to how many people in the world have been infected by the Zika virus, World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier said.

US health officials confirmed Tuesday that a man in Virginia had tested positive for the virus, but added there was no risk of it spreading to others because it is not mosquito season there.

In Italy, the Spallanzani National Institute of Infectious Disease said four cases were recorded in March 2015, while in Portugal, the health ministry said four Portuguese had been infected.

The number of cases of the deformity in Brazil surged from 163 per year on average to 3,893 after the Zika outbreak began last year.

Zika symptoms are similar to flu, including fever, joint pain, rash, headache and muscle pain. In fact, the virus is spread by the same species of mosquito.