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Colombia issues alert over expanding Zika virus

เผยแพร่:   โดย: MGR Online

Bello, ANTIOQUIA, COLOMBIA: Members of the Migente foundation check mosquito traps in the Paris neighborhood, Bello municipality, Antioquia department, Colombia on January 26, 2016. The Study and Control of Tropical Diseases Program (PECET) of Antioquias University released one year ago Aedes aegypti mosquitos carrying the Wolbachia pipientis bacteria, which prevents them from transmitting the Zika and dengue viruses, as part of project to fight dengue. The Zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease suspected of causing serious birth defects, is expected to spread to all countries in the Americas except Canada and Chile, the World Health Organization said. AFP PHOTO/Raul Arboleda

January 27, 2016
BOGOTA (AFP) - Colombia issued an alert Tuesday over the Zika virus, which has already infected 13,800 people in the country, as it warned that the number is likely to uptick as the disease spreads.

The Ministry of Health advised mayors of towns below a certain elevation to "declare a green alert for public and private hospitals facing a possible increase in Zika cases."

All municipalities located below 2,200 meters (7,200 feet) were urged to issue an alert, the ministry said in a statement.

"This warning is issued because the Zika infection is currently in an expansion phase," said Luis Fernando Correa, head of the ministry's Office of Emergency Management and Disaster.

The virus has proliferated across a number of Latin American and Caribbean countries, causing particular alarm among pregnant women because it is linked to the birth of babies with abnormally small heads, a condition known as microcephaly.

Already in Brazil, Zika has been linked to 3,893 cases of microcephaly.

The Zika virus is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can also carry dengue and chikungunya, and there is no cure or vaccine.

Its flu-like symptoms (fever, headache, body aches) are accompanied by rashes or outbreaks that appear three to 12 days after a bite from an infected mosquito.

Colombia, which has been hit the hardest by the disease after Brazil, expects to have more than 600,000 cases in 2016.

As of January 16 there have been a total of 13,808 confirmed cases in Colombia, which includes 890 pregnant women, plus an additional 2,611 suspected cases.
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