Zika spreads in Malaysia

Malaysia is stepping up efforts to warn people of the risks of Zika after it confirmed its first case of a pregnant woman with the mosquito-borne virus.

Health Minister S Subramaniam said in a statement Wednesday that the 27-year-old female was confirmed infected with Zika on September 6, after developing a rash, fever and body aches four days before.

The woman reportedly lives in Johor, a state bordering Singapore, where 275 cases of the virus have been recorded, including in two pregnant women.

It is linked with a surge in cases of microcephaly, an untreatable condition in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and undeveloped brains.

Her husband, who works in Singapore, had also showed symptoms of Zika and has been having tests.

The Health Minister on 3 September had confirmed the first locally transmitted Zika virus infection case involving a 61-year-old man from Sabah.

Airport sources said upon screening, passengers with symptoms of Zika virus would be sent to the Government Hospital for treatment.

The airport health team at the Tiruchi International Airport has been placed on alert to screen passengers arriving from Singapore with symptoms of Zika virus infection.

“It is my hope with heightened awareness of the disease, the community needs to eradicate all Aedes mosquito breeding sites to reduce the spread of Zika virus”, he said.

On Wednesday, Malaysia reported its first case of a pregnant woman with Zika – a resident of Johor.

On Monday, the DoH announced that a married but non-pregnant woman from Iloilo City was the sixth case of Zika infection in the Philippines since 2012.

“She showed signs and symptoms before the husband”.

Zika is primarily spread by Aedes aegypti mosquito, but can also be transmitted through sexual contact.

The paper comes soon after this study in the Lancet, a medical journal, which used travel patterns to predict that India-where more than 67,000 air travellers arrive every year-and four other countries (China, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand) were most at risk for year-round transmission of the Zika virus.