No sign of Zika virus identified in Cambodia: health statement

Cambodia has been monitoring the situation of Zika virus very closely, though the country has not seen any case of the virus so far, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Friday.

"At the present, there is no any reported case of Zika virus in Cambodia, and the ministry is watching the situation very closely," the statement said, adding that risk of the virus coming into Cambodia remained low.

According to the statement, Cambodia found a Zika case in 2010, but the patient had recovered and since then, no such case has been reported.

Symptoms of Zika, which is transmitted through Aedes species mosquitoes, usually include fever, headache, rash, red eyes, and joint pain, it said, adding that most of the patients recover within two to seven days, as fatal rate is very low.

However, if the virus is transmitted to pregnant women, it can lead to the death of babies in the wombs, or babies' heads are abnormally small, it said.

Currently, there is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat the disease.

"To prevent from Zika infection, people should protect themselves from being bitten by Aedes mosquitoes," Health Minister Mam Bunheng said in the statement, urging people to visit doctors when they have symptoms as mentioned above.

Zika virus was first isolated from a monkey in the Zika forest in Uganda in 1947. In 2015, the mosquito-borne virus was detected in the Americas with Brazil reporting its first case in May last year. Enditem