Zika travel advisory issued for 11 Southeast Asia countries

All the countries across the Southeast Asia should take stronger preventives to fight with the virus and must strengthen the pre-emptive methods for detecting, avoiding, and responding to the transmission Zika virus. Patients infected with the virus can have symptoms such as fever, conjunctivitis, muscular and joint pain, skin rashes and headaches.

The ministry also said that one man who had contracted Zika, suffered from Guillain-Barré – a syndrome that affects the body’s nervous system.

Dr Thanaluk Palipat of the Department of Disease Control said a group of 32 pregnant women who live in infected areas had been recently closely monitored via urine tests.

The best advice to protect yourself and your sexual partner-don’t travel to those areas.

Unfortunately, if your protection fails, you’ll probably never feel the bite that could give you Zika.

There is no cure or vaccine for the virus, which has infected an estimated 1.5 million people.

With news about the Zika virus continually in the media spotlight, many concerned travelers often ask their care providers: “Can I get tested?”

The three babies were born with small heads but it was not clear from ultrasound results whether the 37-week unborn baby had a head size smaller than normal.

Children with microcephaly face lifelong difficulties, including intellectual impairment.

It comes after Thailand confirmed two babies were born with microcephaly believed to have been caused by the virus. No location was given for the pregnant woman.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the issuance of a travel warning by the CDC was a public health measure. “What was frustrating is, everybody said they were for funding (yet) nothing happened time and time again”. “For others, it may be the last time they had a sexual exposure to someone”. Those who may have been exposed to Zika but never developed any symptoms were told to hold off on trying to conceive for just eight weeks. With Zika, things change frequently.

“The updated recommendations incorporate what’s been learned since the previous guidance was released”, a CDC release says.

Not making a baby anytime soon?

Zika is mainly spread a tropical mosquito called Aedes aegypti, though it can also be spread through sex. The agency flat-out advised pregnant women to avoid Singapore. The CDC had documented locally transmitted cases of the virus in the Asian country back in August, however, now it may possibly be affecting pregnant women in Thailand. “Given the limited data available and the potential for severe birth defects, CDC recommends men to wait six months before considering pregnancy”, reads the published report.