World Bank sees modest economic drag from Zika

Zika has now spread t0 39 countries which include at least 34 countries from the Americas.

Earlier this month the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the link between microcephaly found in babies born to infected mothers should be considered a “public health emergency of worldwide concern”.

The virus is spreading rapidly through Latin America. The report comes as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to study a possible link between Zika and microcephaly, a condition defined by abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains.

To date, Zika outbreaks have hit more than 30 countries, and cases contracted elsewhere have been confirmed in the U.S.

Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Castro said the experts would also pool resources and knowledge during the two-day meeting to develop better methods to test people for Zika and ways to eradicate the mosquito that spreads the virus linked to severe birth defects. Zika virus may be transmitted from a pregnant woman to a fetus during pregnancy or at the time of birth.

The medical unit is in place to attend those who have been affected by diseases transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, like dengue, malaria and Zika.

The health department also advised women who are pregnant, or could become pregnant, to either use a condom during all sexual contact or avoid it altogether with any men who recently visited a country with a Zika outbreak.

“In addition‚ Zika virus has not been identified further south than Uganda in Africa”.

To protect the U.S. blood supply, people who’ve traveled to places where the Zika virus is prevalent, or who have symptoms that suggest infection, should wait a month before donating blood, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday.

One new case of Zika virus was confirmed Wednesday in Brevard County, where Melbourne is, expanding the Florida surgeon general’s “declaration of public health emergency” to a new pocket of Florida. The most common symptoms of a Zika infection are fever, rashes, joint pains or conjunctivitis (red eyes).

There is not yet an FDA-licensed test to screen blood donations for Zika.