College of William and Mary student contracts Zika virus

The Minister explained that Zika virus is transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito from the Aedes genus, mainly Aedes aegypti in tropical regions.

The claim comes amid global concern over the virus, already believed to have spread to 23 countries, linked to serious complications including birth defects in Brazil.

The World Heath Organization has yet to confirm that the Zika virus really is the reason for the widespread newborn epidemic in the Americas, but WHO Director, Dr. Margaret Chan, said the Zika virus has evolved “from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions”, as reported by BBC.

The disease is strongly suspected to be linked to microcephaly, a birth defect characterized by incomplete brain development and an unusually small head.

Brazil is the country hit hardest by the virus.

Since then, there have been 270 confirmed cases of microcephaly and 3,448 suspected cases, up from 147 in 2014.

As alarm grows over the surge in number of cases, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica and Puerto Rico have warned women to delay conceiving until the Zika outbreak is brought under control.

World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier says the teleconference meeting of experts will consider whether global efforts to fight the outbreak should be immediately ramped up.

Such consultations are relatively rare, underlining the scale of concern felt by the organisation.

The WHO’s actions are under intense scrutiny after its handling of the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa.

For the past four years, a team from the University of South Australia have been working with biotech company Sementis to develop a vaccine for the mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus.

Carried by mosquitoes, the disease has been spreading quickly through the Americas.

Speaking on the symptoms, Ms Mwalimu said that disease’s indication were similar to other arbovirus infections such as dengue, and include fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise, and headache.