Olympics will not be postponed over Zika virus

Some 220,000 soldiers will hand out leaflets door-to-door across Brazil on Saturday, ahead of a massive insecticide-spraying operation as the government tries to stem an outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

But tests for this more fatal disease which kills hundreds in Brazil each year, proved negative, leading to the patient being positively tested for Zika.

A Victorian woman has been diagnosed with the Zika virus.

“It’s not possible at this point to say that Zika was the sole cause of death”, he said. But there is mounting evidence from Brazil suggesting infection in pregnant women is linked to abnormally small heads in their babies – a birth defect called microcephaly.

The World Health Organization advised that the recent cluster of microcephaly cases and other neurologic disorders reported in Brazil constitutes a public health emergency of global concern. Frieden has said the link between Zika and Guillain-Barré, which can lead to paralysis in adults, is growing stronger.

The Zika virus was transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito in a country overseas where there was active Zika virus transmission occurring, Dr Taylor said.

The CDC is urging pregnant women or those trying to become pregnant not to travel to Zika-affected areas.

Brazilian authorities insist there will be no risk to athletes and spectators, except pregnant women, when the Rio Games take place in August. But most people experience no symptoms or very mild one, and the antibody test used to tell afterward if they were infected isn’t very accurate.

Castro said development of a vaccine could come as quickly as within one year, but said that another two years would likely be needed for any large-scale rollout of a successful vaccine.

The Zika virus was first discovered in Africa in 1947.

But he says because we’re still learning about the virus, there’s no definitive answer. But, some Americans have returned to the United States with infections from affected countries in South America, Central America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands, the AP reported. But CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said he is only knowledgeable of two cases, and not three.

Infected mosquitoes remain the primary source of Zika virus transmission while other modes of transmission like sexual contact are being investigated.