Italy registers 5 cases of Zika: reports

Italy has confirmed five cases of the Zika virus in the country, local media reported Thursday.

Health authorities reported earlier this week that an Italian of Venezuelan origin was recently treated in Treviso, a town in northern Italy, after she was found affected by the virus.

"Our health system has been monitoring for a long time the possible presence of the virus here, both in mosquitoes which are its carriers, and in humans," Veneto region health councilor Luca Coletto was quoted as saying by ANSA news agency.

"The situation is completely under control and there is no reason for an alarm," he added.

Last week, health authorities in Rome reported that four men had been infected with the Zika virus last year after coming back to Italy from Brazil, and that they were presently in good condition.

"The cases date back to last springtime and now the patients are fine. Three of them have been treated here and one in Florence," Giuseppe Ippolito, the scientific director of Lazzaro Spallanzani Hospital in Rome, which specializes in infectious diseases, said.

Ippolito advised pregnant women to avoid traveling to the areas at risk as the virus can cause cases of microcephaly among fetuses.

Newborns with microcephaly have abnormally smaller heads, which can cause brain damage. Though the virus is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, contagion has also been found to possibly occur through sexual transmission, Ippolito added.

Brazil was the country most affected by the epidemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) said last week that there were 3,893 suspected microcephaly cases in Brazil, which included 49 deaths.

Outside Latin America, the Zika virus has been reported in several European countries. Denmark reported its first infection on Wednesday, while Portugal announced five.

Some cases have also been confirmed in Britain, Spain and Switzerland. All the patients were infected while traveling in Latin America and the Caribbean.

A disease expert at WHO said on Thursday that the Zika virus was spreading explosively and could affect between three million and four million people.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced it had chosen Nicaragua as its base of operations to study the molecular structure of Zika and take steps in the fight against the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Endit