Brazil troops battle Zika mosquitoes

He spoke a day before tens of thousands of soldiers and health inspectors were to take to the streets in an unprecedented drive to encourage residents to be vigilant for mosquito breeding sites.

The soldiers are due to visit some 3 million homes in 350 towns and cities. The disease has sparked alarm because it’s linked to microcephaly, a condition that leads to birth defects.

In Brazil, microcephaly is defined as a head circumference of less than 32cm, while the World Health Organisation and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have their own growth charts, which are used in Australia. All of these presented “symptoms compatible with Zika” while 94.8 percent of the 58 cases studied involved patients over 18 years old.

Forty-one of the cases have a confirmed link to the Zika virus.

Colombian women listen as a health worker distributes information how to prevent the spread of the Zika virus, at the transport terminal in Bogota, Colombia January 31, 2016. “Wear that mosquito repellant, wear that long clothing, and if you can possibly not travel right now until you are more aware of what Zika is doing, that’s what I would advise”. And that is the microcephaly and the birth defects.

Researchers from the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia isolated the entire Zika virus genome from the brain tissue of a fetus aborted at 32 weeks of pregnancy after multiple ultrasounds confirmed microcephaly and suggested a poor outcome for the fetus.

“We must all understand that combating the mosquito is a priority”, said Brazilian Army spokesman Col. Gerson Freitas. “But this time we’re obligated to prevail because the mosquito has become much more risky”.

North Iowans are under no real threat of contracting the Zika virus unless they travel to areas where transmission is happening, such as Latin America, according to health officials.

“But here’s the thing”, Dr. Bhargava says.

His remarks in the early days of the health crisis drew sharp criticism and added to Brazilians’ anxiety.

Some governments have even advised women to delay getting pregnant, and already-pregnant women have been advised not to travel to the countries affected.

Brazil’s government launched a nationwide campaign on Saturday to fight the Zika virus, with President Dilma Rousseff and cabinet ministers personally visiting homes and handing out leaflets along with 220,000 troops.

Worldwide athletes set to compete in an Olympic diving test event in Rio de Janeiro next week have asked about risks linked to the Zika virus, but have not canceled participation because of the outbreak, one of the organizers said on Friday.

Similar to dengue fever, the Zika virus is transmitted to people primarily through mosquito bites, and common symptoms include fever frequently accompanied by a maculopapular rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis, as well as headaches, muscle pain or retro-orbital pain.