Off the wire
• "To Kill a Mockingbird" author Harper Lee dies at age of 89  • Kenyan troops kill Al-Shabaab's explosive device expert  • UNEP stresses efforts to tackle environmental health risks  • Across China: Local government orders more heart, sole in filial devotion  • Urgent: Gold up on weaker U.S. equities, dollar  • Hungary, Serbia to increase joint patrols along border  • British FTSE 100 decreases 0.36 pct on Friday  • Neglectful parents of "left-behind" children to be legally punished  • Taiwan tourism revenue grows quickly on peaceful cross-Strait relations  • Spanish stock market falls 1.22 pct, closes at 8,194 points  
You are here: 　 Home

First Zika case confirmed in S. Africa

Xinhua, February 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

South African health authorities on Friday confirmed the first Zika case involving a Colombian businessman.

The businessman who visited Johannesburg has been diagnosed with Zika by a private Johannesburg pathology laboratory, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said.

At the moment the SA National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) is busy conducting confirmatory tests, according to the minister.

The businessman was in SA for four days when he went to see his doctor because of fever and rash, but now he is fully recovered, Motsoaledi said.

"This infection was acquired in Colombia before he visited Johannesburg," said Motsoaledi.

"The confirmation of this particular case poses no risk to the South African population as the virus is not transmitted from human to human but through the Aedes aegypti mosquito and or possibly from mother to the foetus in pregnant women," Motsoaledi said.

The virus is causing international alarm after spreading quickly in South and Central America and the Caribbean, with Brazil the worst affected country.

The World Health Organization declared an international health emergency on Feb. 1 over the virus, citing concern over a possible link with a rise in cases of microcephaly, a birth defect characterized by an abnormally small head that can result in developmental problems.

Most infected people have no symptoms or mild ones, including fever and skin rashes. Enditem