LatAm, Caribbean on alert for Zika virus

The insect believed to be linked to the fast-spreading, highly-publicized Zika virus has been detected in San Diego, health officials confirm, but there have not been any local cases of the disease reported.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned pregnant women to take precautions against mosquito bites when traveling to areas in Latin America and the Caribbean where there have been Zika outbreaks.

"We want to ensure all New Yorkers traveling to warmer climates are taking preventive measures, and are prepared as mosquito season approaches", said Dr. Herminia Palacio, deputy mayor for Health and Human Services.

Also spread by the bite of mosquitoes, Ross River virus infects about 5000 people every year, causing rash, fever, fatigue and headaches which can last many months.

"Arrival of the virus in some countries of the Americas, notably Brazil, has been associated with a steep increase in the birth of babies with abnormally small heads and in cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a poorly understood condition in which the immune system attacks the nervous system, sometimes resulting in paralysis", World Health Organization said.

"The level of alarm is extremely high", Chan told World Health Organization executive board members at a meeting in Geneva.

That's a typically mild disease that has been linked to birth defects in some countries in the Southern Hemisphere recently. "Because it is not mosquito season in Virginia, this individual with Zika virus infection poses no risk to other Virginians", said State Health Commissioner Marissa J. Levine, MD, MPH, FAAFP.

There have been two confirmed cases of the virus in the US - one in Virginia and another in Arkansas. The baby's mother was diagnosed with the Zika virus during her pregnancy.

The WHO cautions that Zika has not been conclusively proven to cause microcephaly.

A virus spread through mosquitoes is causing worldwide concern.

Cases have soared in Brazil from 163 a year on average to more than 3,718 suspected cases since the outbreak, and 68 babies have died, according to the health ministry. There hasn't been a single reported case of locally acquired Zika virus in Canada, PHAC says.

The WHO's leadership admitted last April to serious missteps in its handling of the Ebola crisis, which was focused mostly on three West African countries and killed more than 10,000 people.

Denmark and Switzerland joined a growing number of European countries to report Zika infections among travellers returning from Latin America.

Marcos Espinal, head of communicable diseases at the WHO's Americas arm, said a study would soon be published suggesting a correlation between Zika and microcephaly in Brazil.

Here in Cincinnati, because of the cold weather, mosquitoes aren't a problem now.

With Carnival celebrations just over a week away and the Olympic Games set for Rio de Janeiro in August, Brazil is poised to receive hundreds of thousands of visitors in the coming months, adding to concerns over the spread of the virus.