Asian countries urge sick travelers to report Zika symptoms

The Cuban Health authorities confirmed Friday that there are still no cases of the Zika virus on the island.

Nigeria’s Health Ministry is warning citizens against traveling to Latin America because of the Zika virus outbreak, and is especially recommending that pregnant women not go there.

There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is like dengue and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes.

Brazil is seeing a wave of such birth defects.

To prevent the Zika virus from spreading in the country, tourists from South America and Central America, as well as Malaysians returning from there should report to the health quarantine centre or health office upon arrival.

No commercial test for Zika is now available, which means that the only organization that can test for the virus is the CDC, physicians said. “The recomendation of the doctors is to wait one or two years”.

“I think it should be reassuring to everyone in the commonwealth that we have medical experts that understand Zika”, said PAMED President Scott Shapiro.

“We certainly have our share of mosquitoes in Hawaii, so that combined with the temperate climate we have and the certain environment, fosters the disease transmission”, said Keith Kawaoka, Environmental Health Administration Deputy Director.

The WHO said on Sunday the rapid spread of Zika in the Americas was due to a lack of immunity among a population that had not been previously exposed to the virus.

A day after World Health Organization warned that Zika virus was spreading “explosively”, the government also made a decision to strengthen its surveillance system and asserted that it is taking all measures to ensure that it is “well prepared” in case of any eventuality. There has been one case where a wife contracted the disease from her husband during sexual intercourse, Schuchat said.

“However, if a female partner is at risk of getting pregnant, or is already pregnant, condom use is advised for a male traveller”.

“Because Zika virus is primarily transmitted by infected mosquitos, there is very limited chance of local transmission in New York during the winter”, New York Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said in a statement.

The CDC is also investigating if a rare paralysis syndrome called Guillain-Barre is related to the virus. Rather, it is transmitted when an infested mosquito bites a human, and then another mosquito bites the infected person.

Officials have found 4,180 suspected cases of microcephaly in babies in Brazil since late October (only 270 have been confirmed). Scores of foreign travelers were expected to visit the country in February for its famed Carnival celebrations, raising the risk that they will bring the virus with them back home.

“That’s part of the reason we aren’t testing everybody, there would be too many false positives”, Chan said.