China reports first case of imported Zika virus

Despite the first confirmed imported case of Zika in China, NHFPC remains positive that the risk of the virus spreading in the country remains low.

Queensland health authorities have urged pregnant women not to travel to places where there have been Zika outbreaks. This time, the target is where it ought to be: on extinguishing mosquitoes, and not on stigmatizing people who may be carrying the virus into the country. Common symptoms of the virus include fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis (red eye).

Only about one-fifth of those infected develop symptoms, which are usually mild.

Hughes considered the polluted waters at the sailing venue Guanabara Bay to pose more health risks to competitors during the Games than the Zika virus.

Zika does not mutate quickly, so it could be easier to target Zika with a vaccine than HIV, for which no approved vaccine exists, or influenza, which requires annual shots.

Health researchers are studying the virus over concerns it is a possible cause of small heads and undeveloped brains in some newborns whose mothers may have been infected while pregnant.

Travel insurance will not cover people cancelling trips to areas hard-hit by the Zika virus, says the president of the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada.

The CDC recommends pregnant women postpone travel to areas where there has been outbreak, including Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, Suriname, U.S. Virgin Islands and Venezuela.

The best way to avoid Zika virus is to avoid mosquito bites and to avoid sexual contact with a person who has Zika virus. The Alabama Department of Health advises all pregnant women with a history of travel to affected areas to be evaluated.

“This fetus was really devastated”, said Dr. Michael Greene of Massachusetts General Hospital who with colleagues from Harvard reviewed the findings in an accompanying editorial.

Zika virus is transmitted by mosquitoes to humans and by infected women to unborn babies.

“The confirmed case in Alabama kind of hits home right now so we are taking all of the precautions”, United Blood Services Regional Director Dan McCrady said.

O’Connor was in Brazil for HIV research in October, when the Zika outbreak was first reported.

The White House funding request followed a WHO emergency declaration last week that the Zika virus is now a global health threat, based on the suspicion that the virus may be to blame for the thousands of birth defects in Brazil in the past year.

In response to Zika virus concerns, the CDC’s Emergency Operations Center moved to a Level 1 activation this week.