Third Illinois resident tests positive for Zika virus

Taylor says women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, consult a health-care practitioner before travelling to a region where the virus is circulating.

The main effort of the prevention efforts was to prevent the reproduction of Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes, which transmit dengue fever and the Zika virus to humans, Andi said.

“The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, in cooperation with the Public Health Agency of Canada, Public Health Ontario, the Centre for Disease Control, the World Health Organization and other national and worldwide partners are continuing to monitor and assess Zika virus infection”.

In the United States, there have been 31 infections – all from travelers to areas affected by the virus – causing U.S. Centers of Disease Control officials to offer precautions about travel while urging those within the country to remain calm.

“Now in the Western Hemisphere, no one is immune, and that seems to be the primary reason for the big outbreak in south America and now Central America”.

Health authorities in Bogota expect more than 600,000 people to be infected with the virus in Colombia this year, further projecting almost 500 cases of microcephaly.

The latest figures make Colombia the second most affected country after Brazil. It was subsequently realized that one of the samples was infected by the Zika virus. To spread the disease here, these mosquitoes would need to bite people who are already infected and then bite others.

There are 20,297 confirmed cases of the disease in Colombia, the national health institute said in an epidemiology bulletin on Saturday, and among them are 2,116 pregnant women.

A small handful of cases have even been reported in North America and some parts of Western Europe, due to travelers who contracted the virus overseas and brought it back home.

The institute said 37.2 percent of pregnant women with Zika live in Norte de Santander Province, along the eastern border with Venezuela.

Deyalsingh said fogging and spraying would continue throughout the country, as well as programmes to educate citizens on the virus.

Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, red eyes and rash. The CDC also recommended that women who have recently traveled to these places during their pregnancy be screened and monitored for the virus.