Schumer urges 3-point federal plan to fight Zika virus

However, due to the emergency situation in South America, authorities have made an exception in this case.

“The Florida Keys has the most intensive urban mosquito program of anywhere in the country, perhaps in the world, per square mile”, said Doyle.

In response to what the head of World Health Organization called the “explosive spread” of the Zika virus and its seemingly risky effect on newborns, many Latin American countries have strongly urged women not to get pregnant.

The intervention comes after the health ministry received confirmation from the Caribbean Public Health Agency late yesterday that a four-year-old boy who resides in Portmore is the first person to contract the virus in Jamaica.

A female Aedes aegypti mosquito acquires a blood meal on the arm of a researcher at the Biomedical Sciences Institute in the Sao Paulo’s University, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

About 80 percent of people infected with the Zika virus don’t show symptoms at all.

No human case of the virus has been reported in Hong Kong but doctors have been advised since January 18 to stay alert to the possibility of Zika in travelers “who present a clinically compatible picture not attributable to dengue fever or chikungunya fever”.

There is additional concern that aedes albopictus, the highly aggressive tiger mosquito, could become a vector for the Zika virus.

Usually, the Zika virus disease is relatively mild and requires no specific treatment. If symptoms worsen, medical care and advice should be sought immediately. But work is underway towards developing a vaccine for the Zika virus.

“Vaccines will take many years, so mosquito control is the only card we have in the deck”, said Doyle.

Prevention of mosquito bite and control of breeding ground were the key measures. One thing is clear, cases of microcephaly in Brazil were 20 times higher in 2015 than in 2014, The Atlantic reports.

The Zika outbreak in 23 countries meets these conditions. It also said that men should use condoms for six months following recovery if a clinical illness “compatible with Zika virus infection or laboratory confirmed Zika virus infection was reported”.

Travel issues aside, doctors are particularly concerned about the effect Zika will have on countries where abortion is illegal, and fear women will put their health at risk via back alley procedures. El Salvador has asked women to delay pregnancy until 2018.

The WHO is under pressure to act quickly in the fight against Zika, after admitting it was slow to respond to the recent Ebola outbreak that ravaged parts of west Africa.

Hong Kong experts will today announce the likely listing of the Zika virus as a notifiable infectious disease. Those infected by the Zika virus are treated with rest, fluids and acetaminophen, Lacy said.