Zika alert as pregnant woman advised not to travel to some southeast Asian countries

DUBAI // Pregnant women or those trying to conceive have been advised not to travel to areas infected by the Zika virus, as updates to the world map of affected zones were released at the Arab Health Congress.

“The situation has changed, as we can see from the new map from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which was updated 10 days ago,” said Dr Andrzej Szefler, a family medicine consultant at Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

“The situation in the West is the same, and in Central and South America, with some outbreaks in Africa. But if you look at South-East Asia, it has changed.

“There is new transmission in Thailand and Malaysia, and many cases in Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia.

“If someone who was starting a family or was pregnant asked me now, I would advise them not to go there.”

About 40 Zika vaccines are being worked on but none of these are expected to reach the market for up to three years. Until then, women are being advised against travel to the affected countries.

Zika is passed on by mosquitoes and can be transferred through eggs lying dormant in stagnant water.

In 2013 to 2014, there were more than 30,000 suspected cases reported from French Polynesia, and there was an outbreak on Easter Island, Chile, before the first case was reported in Brazil in 2015.

Health experts believe the ­virus most probably spread to the Americas during the 2014 football World Cup in Brazil.

The 2014 canoeing world championships in Rio de Janeiro, and Catholic World Youth Day and papal visit to Brazil in July 2013 are also suspected of helping to transmit the virus.

The incubation period for Zika is two to 14 days. The most common symptoms are a rash, conjunctivitis and headaches, but only 20 per cent of those infected show symptoms.

Those showing symptoms who have travelled to infected areas can be tested and unborn babies can be checked by ultrasound.

Zika is known to be a cause of microcephaly, where babies are born with abnormally small heads.

nwebster@thenational.ae