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UN health agency mobilizes teams to help countries combat Zika virus

Xinhua, January 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is mobilizing teams of international experts to help member countries prepare for the outbreaks of mosquito-borne Zika virus, a UN spokesman told reporters here Tuesday.

The Zika virus, now circulating in 18 countries and territories of Latin America and the Caribbean, is transmitted primarily by Aedes mosquitos, which also transmit chikungunya and dengue viruses and are present in every country of the Americas except Canada and continental Chile, Stephane Dujarric, the UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here.

"Only one in four people infected with Zika virus develops symptoms, but it can sometimes cause serious complications in those who are infected," he said.

In Brazil, where Zika was first confirmed in May 2015, more than 3,500 suspected cases of microcephaly have been reported in areas where the virus is circulating.

Five more babies have died in Brazil due to the Zika virus, the government announced on Wednesday.

According to the latest report by the Health Ministry, the five deaths happened in northeastern Brazil, the worst region hit by Zika.

Furthermore, another baby was born in the southern state of Minas Gerais with microcephaly after his mother contracted the virus.

To date, Brazil has registered 3,893 cases of microcephaly, suspected of being caused by Zika. Among these cases, 224 have been confirmed related to the virus, while the others are still under investigation.

Three British travellers who travelled to south and central America and returned to Britain have been diagnosed with the Zika virus, which may cause brain deformities in babies.

Public Health England confirmed Saturday that, as of Jan. 18, three cases associated with travel to Colombia, Suriname and Guyana have been diagnosed in British travellers.

It said the virus does not occur naturally in Britain, which was first isolated from a monkey in the Zika forest in Uganda in 1947. Symptoms of Zika include low-grade fever, joint pain, rash, conjunctivitis, headache, muscle pain and eye pain.

Scientists also believe it is linked to microcephaly, or abnormally small brains, in newborns. Thus, women in Brazil, Colombia and El Salvador have been advised against becoming pregnant during the outbreak. Enditem