Mexico health ministry downplays Zika threat to tourism

The Zika-spreading mosquito has always been a dominant breed in South China, said Guo Yuhong, a researcher at the Infectious Disease Institute of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Zika virus is linked to brain deformities in babies and is causing concern among public health officials worldwide.

The ministry will also strengthen the surveillance system countrywide to raise the index of suspicion among health workers in the country, he added. Scott signed the order Wednesday to cover Miami-Dade, Lee, Hillsborough and Santa Rosa counties. On Tuesday, the health department reported that a second Hillsborough County resident has been diagnosed with the Zika Virus.

Florida Governor Rick Scott meanwhile declared a health emergency in four counties after six new Zika cases were detected in the U.S. state.

Women returning from affected countries should avoid getting pregnant for 28 days.

“If they have symptoms consistent with Zika virus, during or within two weeks of travel, then we would coordinate the test for the virus with the CDC”, he said.

Spanish officials say a pregnant woman is among the seven people identified as being infected with the Zika virus there after visiting affected countries.

Here are some key questions and answers about the virus and the current outbreak…

Though the World Health Organisation has not officially confirmed it, an Indian pharmaceutical firm is claiming to have developed the world’s first vaccine against the virus.

Eliminating breeding spots and controlling mosquito populations can help prevent the spread of the virus.

Dr Yong Puworawan, head of Chulalongkorn University’s Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology, revealed that Zika can be transmitted via mosquito bite but also by sexual intercourse and breast feeding.

Officials said earlier this week that since some people may show no symptoms of infection, the virus may be more prevalent than previously thought. The disease caused by this virus, however, is not fatal and lasts up to a week.

Elsewhere, a sexually transmitted case of Zika in Texas has scientists scrambling to understand how much of a risk infection through sex is for the usually mosquito-spread illness. The World Health Organization estimates that it will infect up to 4 million people by the end of the year in this hemisphere. It said at least 26 countries in the Americas have a Zika outbreak, with Brazil being the hardest-hit nation, reporting 3,530 cases.

Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico have all warned women not to get pregnant.

Jersey City Medical Center-Barnabas Health is working along similar lines to prepare for a potential case of Zika infection, spokesman Mark Rabson said.

Overpopulated Asia, with its slums and high number of mosquitoes is very vulnerable to this disease.