Jamaica Confirms First Case of Zika

Epidemiologist Jussi Sane at the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) told ABC News that a Finnish tourist was infected by the Zika virus after visiting the Maldives last summer. None of the women involved are pregnant.

Brazil is the country hit hardest by the disease.

The health authority also warned people to empty water containers and use mosquito nets to prevent the possible spread of the virus.

Although WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said there was no definitive proof that the Zika virus, spread by mosquitoes, is responsible for the birth defects, she acknowledged on Thursday that “the level of alarm is extremely high”. Since the virus was first reported, 200 babies have been born with defects from the illness. Health experts are unsure why the virus, which was first detected in Africa in 1947 but unknown in the Americas until a year ago, is spreading so rapidly in Brazil and neighbouring countries.

A Zika virus infection can only be confirmed by a laboratory diagnosis and the Pacific Islands overall have very limited capacity for Zika testing.

The National Health Institute of Colombia said the country has seen 20,297 cases of the virus, including 2,116 pregnant women, Agence France-Presse reported.

Zika cases have been confirmed in 23 countries and territories in the Americas and scientists are racing to develop a vaccine for the virus. More than 60 per cent of those infected are women.

In Brazil, abortion is illegal except in cases of rape or to save a woman’s life. Metro Health officials added that the six had traveled to a variety of South American countries, and none of them are pregnant. According to Vocativ, as of 2008, about 73 percent of women in El Salvador used some form of birth control, including female sterilization.

The WHO predicts that three to four million people could be infected with Zika virus in the Americas this year and is taking precautions to protect those who will attending the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. Vaccine trials may start in people by the end of this year in the US.