Asian countries urge sick travellers to report Zika symptoms

No cases are confirmed yet.

Symptoms are usually mild, and most people exposed to Zika virus won’t develop any symptoms at all.

“It was inevitable that cases of imported Zika would arrive to Peru”, Velasquez said at a news conference.

The disease has been linked to a serious birth defect called microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with small heads and underdeveloped brains.

Zika is a mosquito-borne virus that’s been strongly linked to severe birth defects.

Mosquitoes become infected with the Zika virus when they feed on a person who has it. The newly infected mosquitoes then transmit the virus to the next person it bites.

Mosquitoes in Central and South America are transmitting the Zika virus.

The department of health says that pregnant women who traveled to a county with ongoing Zika transmission should contact their health care provider if they experience fever, rash, joint pain, or red eyes.

This article was written by The Associated Press.

Although the Zika virus was first documented in 1947, it caused only sporadic and small outbreaks of illness until recently.

The WHO’s Western Pacific Region Office in Manila said as long as Aedes mosquitoes circulated in the region “it can be anticipated that the virus will emerge”. Finding the link, if there is one, should be put at the top of the WHO’s agenda during its emergency meeting Monday. Women have already been advised to avoid travelling to infected countries if they might be pregnant or are trying for a child.

“We’re looking at providing additional entomology support, additional vector control workers”, said Kawaoka.

World Health Organization predicts there could be up to 4 million cases this year. It’s true that the Aedes mosquito lives across many states in the American Southeast, as well as some southwestern states and California, making the concerns that it could come here very real.

NHS Secretary Ayub Sheikh told Dawn that there was no evidence that the virus had ever travelled to Pakistan and that not a single case of the Zika virus had been confirmed in the country.