Health News: Zika Virus Infiltrates the U.K.
In what could be one of the most dreadful news this week in the United Kingdom, three British travelers have been infected with the Zika virus, health officials have confirmed.
The Public Health England website said, "As of January 2016, three cases associated with travel to Colombia, Suriname and Guyana have been diagnosed in UK travelers." This is the first time news about the virus reaching the U.K. has emerged, fueling fear among some nationals.
According to CNN, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has warned pregnant women from traveling to the following regions: Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Hait, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Suriname, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico, after it was revealed earlier that Zika is being linked to microcephaly among newborns in Brazil.
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The CDC also recommended that pregnant women who traveled to the said areas undergo screening for the virus to make sure their pregnancies are safe as the bug continues to batter regions around the world.
80 percent of infected people have no symptoms at first, which only makes the urge to get screened even higher. After being bit by an infected mosquito, symptoms such as fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes may occur.
Due to the increase in cases that link microcephaly to babies, it has been recommended that women avoid getting pregnant until such time the virus is out of the country or the link between Zika and the neurological condition has been totally eradicated.
El Salvador has banned abortions in the area, whether the reasons include rape, incest, fetal deformation, or the mother's life is at stake, and after reports emerged about the dangerous virus, some women's right groups have called on the government to lift the ban.
Zika has no treatment or prevention at the moment and everyone is at risk, not only travelers and pregnant women, so it is best to use mosquito repellant on exposed skin to avoid contracting the virus.
