Zika virus found in Australian travellers coming home
Brazil is mobilising more than 200,000 troops to go "house to house" in the battle against Zika-carrying mosquitoes, blamed for causing horrific birth defects in a major health scare that has already reached Australia.
Zika is linked to serious birth defects, including microcephaly, in which babies born to women infected during pregnancy have abnormally small heads.
Zika is linked to serious birth defects, including microcephaly, in which babies born to women infected during pregnancy have abnormally small heads. Photo: Yahoo News
A number of Australians returning from South America have contracted the virus, according to Sydney virologist Professor Dominic Dwyer.
"There have been some people who have come back to Australia who've had Zika virus infection," he said.
"But what we haven't had is evidence of the spread of the infection from one person to another in this country."
For the virus to spread it would need a very specific species of mosquito to act as a vector, said the virologist from Sydney's Westmead Hospital.
In Australia, the Aedes aegypti mosquito is the only mosquito capable of carrying the virus - a mosquito found only in far north Queensland.
In Australia, the Aedes aegypti mosquito is the only mosquito capable of carrying the virus - a mosquito found only in far north Queensland. Photo: AFP
Professor Dwyer is urging Australians to take the threat seriously.
"I think it's a question of being alert but not alarmed," he said.
"When you get a virus go into a population where the people aren't immune, then you often get very rapid spread.
"So for example over the last decade there have been a number of islands in the Pacific that have had explosive outbreaks of Zika virus infection, as well as others like Chikungunya virus.
"So when the virus gets in there and you've got the right mosquitoes — vectors to carry the virus — then the population aren't immune, so the transmission in the community can be really rapid."
Zika is linked to serious birth defects, including microcephaly, in which babies born to women infected during pregnancy have abnormally small heads. Photo: AFP
Soldiers will fan out to homes across Brazil distributing leaflets and dispensing advice, said Health Minister Marcelo Castro, signalling a major ramping up of efforts against the Zika virus.
Castro said that the government, under growing pressure to deal with the crisis, will also hand out repellent to at least 400,000 pregnant women on social welfare.
A surge in incidents across Latin America, notably in Brazil, has prompted the United States and other governments to warn pregnant women against travelling to the region -- an alarming prospect for Brazil as it gears up to welcome the Olympics to Rio de Janeiro in August.
Unlike some other international health scares, the Zika virus is not spread person to person. And for most people who get infected, the flu-like symptoms will clear up in about a week.
Brazil is mobilising more than 200,000 troops to go "house to house" in the battle against Zika-carrying mosquitoes, blamed for causing horrific birth defects in a major health scare that has already reached Australia. Photo: AFP
But the specific threat to pregnant women and their fetuses, and the seeming impossibility of avoiding mosquitoes in tropical countries, has given this crisis extra bite.
Brazil has recorded at least 3,893 microcephaly cases since an unusual spike in the rare condition was noticed in the country's northeast in October. Previously an annual average of 160 cases was the norm.
Areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing are difficult to determine and likely to change over time. Photo: Yahoo News
And short of not getting pregnant, there is no foolproof method for avoiding risk.
Castro said last week that the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries Zika and also dengue fever and the chikungunya virus, was gaining momentum.
