Zika virus in Thailand

Thailand confirms first Zika-linked microcephaly in Southeast Asia

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  A city worker fumigates the area to control the spread of mosquitoes at a temple in Bangkok, Thailand, September 14, 2016. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom

Thailand reported on Friday the first confirmed cases in Southeast Asia of microcephaly linked to mosquito-borne Zika, as the World Health Organization urged action against the virus across the region.

The confirmation of two case of microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size, came a day after US health officials recommended that pregnant women postpone non-essential travel to 11 Southeast Asian countries because of the risk of Zika.

"We have found two cases of small heads linked to Zika, the first cases in Thailand," Prasert Thongcharoen, an adviser to the Department of Disease Control, told reporters in Bangkok.

He declined to say where in Thailand the cases were found but officials have said they were not in Bangkok.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the cases were the first of Zika-linked microcephaly in Southeast Asia and the virus infection represented a serious threat to pregnant women and their unborn children.

"Countries across the region must continue to strengthen measures aimed at preventing, detecting and responding to Zika virus transmission," Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, the WHO's regional director, said in a statement.

US health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, which can lead to severe developmental problems in babies.

VIRUS SPREADING

The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last year in Brazil, which has confirmed more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infections in the mothers.

Zika has spread extensively in Latin American and the Caribbean over the past year or so, and more recently it has been cropping up in Southeast Asia.

Thailand has confirmed 349 Zika cases since January, including 33 pregnant women, and Singapore has recorded 393 Zika cases, including 16 pregnant women.

Some health experts have accused Thai officials of playing down the risk of Zika to protect its thriving tourist industry, but Prasert dismissed that.

"Thailand is not hiding anything and is ready to disclose everything," he said, adding that other countries in Southeast Asia might also have cases of Zika-linked microcephaly that they have not disclosed.

The WHO said Thailand's response was an example for the region.

"Thailand's diligence underscores the commitment of health authorities to the health and wellbeing of the Thai public, and provides a positive example to be emulated," Singh said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday people should consider postponing travel to Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste (East Timor), and Vietnam.

The CDC has already issued a "travel notice" for Singapore, and said such a warning would be considered for the new countries if the number of cases rose to the level of an outbreak.

Thailand's confirmation of Zika-linked microcephaly comes ahead of China's week-long "Golden Week" holiday with Thailand expecting 220,000 Chinese visitors, up from 168,000 for the week in 2015, Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Yuthasak Supasorn told Reuters.

NO VACCINE

There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika. An estimated 80 percent of people infected have no symptoms, making it difficult for pregnant women to know whether they have been infected.

There are also no specific tests to determine if a baby will be born with microcephaly, but ultrasound scans in the third trimester of pregnancy can identify the problem, according to the WHO.

Zika is commonly transmitted through mosquitoes but can also be transmitted sexually.

Another Thai health ministry adviser urged everyone to work to stop the spread of mosquitoes but said people should not panic.

"Don't have sex with a Zika-infected person. If you don't know if they are infected, then use a condom," the adviser, Pornthep Siriwanarangsan, told reporters. "We can't stop women from becoming pregnant ... but we mustn't panic."

Health authorities in the region said they were stepping up monitoring, but there has been little testing and officials said the real number of cases was bound to be higher than the confirmed figure.

"We do not test everybody, we test only those who are symptomatic," said Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubia, health secretary in the Philippines, which has reported 12 Zika cases.

"Yes, we are positive that the number is higher because we are not testing everyone."

Malaysia, which has reported six cases of Zika, including two in pregnant women, said it would seek information from Thailand on the particular strain of the Zika virus there.

"We are taking serious notice of the reports in Thailand, and we will reach out to the Thai authorities for more information ... so that we can be more prepared," Malaysia's health minister, Subramaniam Sathasivam, told Reuters.

Authorities in Vietnam, which has reported three cases of Zika, ordered stepped up monitoring of pregnant women.

In Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, head of disease outbreak and surveillance Dwi Oktavia said there had been no sign of any increase in birth defects there. Indonesia had one Zika case in 2015 but has confirmed none since then.

Microcephaly in babies can lead to respiratory problems related to malformation of the brain, a serious threat to the lives of babies. Children with microcephaly face lifelong difficulties, including intellectual impairment.

Zika was first identified in Uganda in 1947 and first isolated in Asia in the 1960s. It was unknown in the Americas until 2014.

How climate change can create diseases?

 

Scientists use climate, population changes to predict diseases

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  A mosquito is seen under a microscope at the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District in Santa Fe Springs, California, U.S., May 18, 2016. Reuters

British scientists say they have developed a model that can predict outbreaks of zoonotic diseases – those such as Ebola and Zika that jump from animals to humans – based on changes in climate.

Describing their model as "a major improvement in our understanding of the spread of diseases from animals to people", the researchers said it could help governments prepare for and respond to disease outbreaks, and to factor in their risk when making policies that might affect the environment.

"Our model can help decision-makers assess the likely impact (on zoonotic disease) of any interventions or change in national or international government policies, such as the conversion of grasslands to agricultural lands," said Kate Jones, a professor who co-led the study at University College London's genetics, evolution and environment department.

The model also has the potential to look at the impact of global change on many diseases at once, she said.

Around 60 to 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases are so-called "zoonotic events", where animal diseases jump into people. Bats in particular are known to carry many zoonotic viruses.

The Ebola and Zika viruses, now well known, both originated in wild animals, as did many others including Rift Valley fever and Lassa fever that affect thousands already and are predicted to spread with changing environmental factors.

Jones' team used the locations of 408 known Lassa fever outbreaks in West Africa between 1967 and 2012 and the changes in land use and crop yields, temperature and rainfall, behavior and access to health care.

They also identified the sub-species of the multimammate rat that transmits Lassa virus to humans, to map its location against ecological factors.

The model was then developed using this information along with forecasts of climate change, future population density and land-use change.

"Our approach successfully predicts outbreaks of individual diseases by pairing the changes in the host's distribution as the environment changes with the mechanics of how that disease spreads from animals to people," said David Redding, who co-led the study.

"It allows us to calculate how often people are likely to come into contact with disease-carrying animals and their risk of the virus spilling over."

The team tested their new model using Lassa fever, a disease that is endemic across West Africa and is caused by a virus passing to people from rats. Like Ebola, Lassa causes hemorrhagic fever and can be fatal.

The study, published in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution, tested the model with Lassa and found the number of infected people will double to 406,000 by 2070 from some 195,000 due to climate change and a growing human population.

Bangladeshi infected with zika virus in singapore

 

 

Rising number of Bangladesh nationals infected with Zika in Singapore

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  A worker fogs the common area of a public housing estate at an area where locally transmitted Zika cases were discovered in Singapore, August 31, 2016. Reuters

More Bangladeshi workers have been tested positive for Zika virus in Singapore, raising the number of total cases to 19, the foreign ministry says.

Citing the Singapore Ministry of Heath, it said on Monday the patients were presented with “mild symptoms and have either recovered or (are) recovering.”

 
“They are being taken care of by the Ministry of Heath of Singapore,” it said in a statement.
 
“Bangladesh High Commission in Singapore has been in touch with the authorities of Singapore and are monitoring the situation."
 
Earlier, on Sep 1, the Bangladesh High Commission said they had found 10 Bangladesh nationals among the Zika-infected people in the city state.
 
Their names and identities have not been disclosed by the authorities for the sake of “privacy”.

The mosquito-borne infection is a cause of global concern for its link with microcephaly in which a baby is born with a small head.

Singapore recently reported the outbreak.

The situation has worsened fast, according to the US Centre for Disease Control that added the city state to its list of Zika-hit countries that pregnant women should avoid.

The Bangladesh mission issued an advisory for its nationals living in the Southeast Asian state and urged them to take precautionary measures to prevent mosquito breeding as vector control is critical in preventing transmission and reducing the risk of the virus.

The government also started compulsory airport screening for the passengers coming from Singapore to Dhaka.

The Aedes Aegypti mosquito that causes Zika also causes dengue fever which is prevalent in Bangladesh.

The Zika virus was first discovered in Uganda in 1947. The most common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis.

Zika virus in singapore

China intensified its checks on people and goods arriving from Singapore on Thursday, as an outbreak of the Zika virus in the small city-state was confirmed to have spread to at least one person in neighbouring Malaysia.

Authorities in Singapore, a leading regional financial centre and busy transit hub for people and cargo, said they had detected 151 people with the Zika virus, including a second pregnant woman, as of midday Thursday.

 
The first locally-transmitted Zika infection was reported on Saturday.
 
The government said earlier that half of the 115 cases reported previously were foreigners, mainly from China, India and Bangladesh, and most had already recovered.
 

Many of them are believed to be among the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in Singapore's construction and marine industries.
 
Some new Zika cases have been found beyond the cluster area where the virus was initially detected.
 
"We have been tracking Zika for a while now, and knew it was only a matter of time before it reached Singapore," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong posted on his Facebook page. "Our best defense is to eradicate mosquitoes and destroy breeding habitats, all over Singapore."
 
Singapore is the only Asian country with active transmission of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which in pregnant women can lead to serious birth defects.
 
Malaysia confirmed its first case of Zika infection, in a woman who had recently visited Singapore.
 
The United States, Australia and other countries have added Singapore to the growing list of places that pregnant women or those trying to conceive have been warned to avoid.
 
Hurricane in US complicates effort
 
Meanwhile, in south Florida, where nearly 50 cases of Zika have been reported in non-travellers, officials said they trapped the first mosquitoes that tested positive for the virus, further confirming reports of local US transmission.
 
"This find is disappointing, but not surprising," Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam said in a statement.
 
"Miami-Dade County, the City of Miami Beach, and state and federal partners will continue to work aggressively to prevent the spread of Zika," Putnam added.
 
That work is likely to be seriously hampered by a hurricane expected to hit Florida overnight, as high winds will make aerial insecticide spraying impossible and standing water in its aftermath will provide added mosquito breeding sites.
 

The Singapore outbreak and travel warnings come just two weeks before the Singapore F1 motor-racing Grand Prix, a major sporting and tourist draw. The race promoter said planning for the event is going ahead "as per normal".
 
Singapore's Tourism Board has said it is premature to consider any impact on the tourism industry, stressing the tropical city-state remains a "safe travel destination".
 
More than 55 million people pass through Singapore's Changi airport each year. Tourism arrivals topped 8 million in the first half of this year, around 1 million more than a year ago.
 
China is trade-dependent Singapore's top overseas market, and the Zika outbreak coincides with a dip in overall exports and slowing economic growth in both countries.
 
"If this continues, certainly it will have a negative impact, but it's hard to quantify in percentage terms or dollar value," said Francis Tan, an economist at United Overseas Bank in Singapore.
 
The Zika virus, which has spread through the Americas and the Caribbean since first being detected in Brazil late last year, is generally a mild disease but can cause microcephaly, a rare birth defect that can lead to serious developmental problems, and has also been linked to other severe foetal brain abnormalities.
 
The World Health Organisation has also linked Zika to Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.
 
Malaysia measures
 
The WHO, which declared Zika an international public health emergency, was holding a regular meeting of its Zika emergency committee on Thursdayto review the spread of the disease.
 
Malaysia, which has two land border crossings with Singapore, asked those going to the city-state to use mosquito repellent and to cover up to avoid bites. Tens of thousands of people travel between the two countries daily.
 
Indonesia has also stepped up protective measures following the Singapore outbreak, intensifying checks on arrivals from Singapore and posting paramedics at airports and border checkpoints.

             Zika is primarily spread by mosquitoes but can also be transmitted through unprotected sex with an infected person.

 
A case of suspected transmission through a blood transfusion in Brazil has raised questions about other ways it may be spread.
 
Several companies and government agencies are working to develop vaccines against Zika.
 
On Thursday, Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceuticals said it has joined the effort with help from US funding, and it expects to begin human testing next year.