United Kingdom men urged to wear condoms after travel to Zika-hit countries

The World Health Organization warns the Zika virus is spreading rapidly through the Americas and could affect as many as four million people.

The alert follows reports in Brazil of microcephaly (small head size) and other poor pregnancy outcomes in babies of mothers who were infected with Zika virus while pregnant.

“Yesterday, we were informed of a laboratory confirmed case in a pregnant woman who traveled to an area with ongoing Zika transmission”, said Mary Travis Bassett, the New York City health commissioner, at a city hall news conference Thursday afternoon.

People who get Zika virus disease typically have a mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and fatigue that can last for two to seven days.

USA officials have ruled out a vaccine to protect against Zika in the next few years as concerns continue to mount about the spread of the virus.

Rousseff said national mobilisation was needed to eliminate the mosquitoes that spread the disease, and urged community groups and unions to help.

“The decision to provide a woman with a certificate that she should not travel is at the discretion of her health-care professional”, said Air Canada’s travel advisory.

“So luckily this type of mosquito is not in Canada.” he says.

Outbreaks of Zika virus disease have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Southern Asia and Western Pacific.

In the future, “it is possible, even likely, that we will see limited Zika outbreaks in the US”, Schuchat said, particularly in the southern parts of Florida and Texas. None of these cases sparked Zika outbreaks.

Now there is no vaccine or treatment for the virus, but work is underway to get there.

“Mosquitos are probably the most risky animal that there is in terms of the spread of diseases”, he says.

On the other hand, the virus might potentially be unsafe to pregnant women.

One reason why World Health Organization is examining the Zika virus so quickly may be because the agency was criticized for its slow response to Ebola; almost 1,000 people had died before World Health Organization declared it to be an worldwide emergency. Although arrival of the virus in Brazil was associated with a marked increase in the number of infants born with microcephaly, a definitive link to the Zika virus has yet to be established.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach says the fact that the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will be held in August – during Brazil’s winter – could limit difficulties caused by the outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus. There’s also a possibility that Zika causes Guillain-Barré syndrome, and it has been linked to seven deaths.

“So right now there is no risk of acquiring Zika virus in Canada because we don’t have the mosquitoes that can carry the virus”.

The virus is transmitted by mosquitoes of genus Aedes.