Peru strengthens health control against Zika virus

The Peruvian government has strengthened health control in provinces bordering Ecuador to prevent the mosquito-borne Zika virus from spreading, said Director of Epidemiology of Health Ministry Martin Yagui on Friday.

Epidemiological monitoring on the border includes training medical staff from all the inflicted areas in Ecuador's border regions of Piura and Tumbes, located around 1,253 km north of Lima, according to Yagui.

The measure was adopted after Peru's first Zika case, a 17-year-old Venezuelan boy who arrived in Lima from Colombia on Jan. 24, was registered earlier Friday.

Around 8,000 medical personnel in Peru have taken training courses on diagnosing the virus, said Yagui.

Among other measures, Peruvian authorities have urged citizens to adopt precautionary measures when they travel to countries with reported cases of the virus.

Zika, transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, is linked to birth defects and has symptoms including fever, muscle and joint pain, headache, nausea and rashes in adults.

Virologists say there is currently no cure for or vaccine against Zika and developing such a vaccine will likely take time.

Since May 2015 when zika began surfacing in northeast Brazil, over 300,000 cases have been registered in Latin America. Endi