Brazil minister says no doubt Zika connected to microcephaly

Authorities there say they are now investigating nearly 4,000 reports of birth defects in babies – which could be linked to the virus. New evidence of Zika in the brain of an aborted foetus, reported on Wednesday, added to the case.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also recommending that pregnant women avoid those regions of Central and South America and the Caribbean where Zika virus has been identified and officials have described it as spreading “explosively”.

Improved diagnostic tests are also viewed as critical to fighting the disease, which is now sweeping through the Americas, and Ms Kieny said new test kits were being rapidly developed and could be available in weeks.

He said the centre has assessed risks of imported case of Zika virus in all prefectures and cities in the province, which borders Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. In Brazil, the epicenter of the outbreak, the spike in cases has coincided with a mysterious rise in cases of microcephaly, or abnormally small heads, in newborns.

As carnival revelers from Haiti to Brazil packed the streets for pre-Lenten extravaganzas this week, raising fears about the transmission of the Zika virus, A&E Networks Latin America chose to put off employee travel in the Americas.

Only one in five people infected with Zika experience illness and even then they are normally mild symptoms.

“If we take all the information we have at the moment, the case for a causal link is quite strong”, Dye said.

Rebelo, formerly Brazil s sports minister, said the government efforts, coupled with winter weather during the Olympics, will ensure that Zika will be not be a problem during the Games.

The categorisation as public health emergency of global concern has been made in view of the link of Zika virus infection with severe birth defects. While locally we still worry about West Nile virus, overseas Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya have established themselves firmly in many countries and are only waiting to invade the continental U.S. Bharat Biotech, which received an $18.5 million grant past year from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support construction of a vaccine manufacturing facility, says it’s delivered more than three billion doses of vaccines more than 65 countries. They emphasize that mosquito bites are still considered the main route of transmission.

Symptoms include fever, rash, red eyes and joint pain. Although imported cases have been reported in the U.S., Zika has not established itself here yet, and there have not been any reported human-to-human mosquito-borne infections here.

The CDC has advised pregnant women against traveling to countries where Zika is present.