Zika

SPC calls for more education on Zika sexual transmission

Last week, the World Health Organisation new research has strengthened the link between Zika and foetal abnormalities, and sexual transmission of the virus is more common than previously thought.

The acting deputy director for public health at the Pacific Community, formerly the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Dr Salanieta Saketa, said there needed to be more awareness about sexual transmission.

Experts tell American Samoans to kill mosquito larvae

The CDC has a seven member team in the territory helping the Department of Health tackle the Zika virus outbreak.

The number of confirmed Zika cases has climbed to 10, including three pregnant women.

The leader of the CDC team, Dr Thane Hancock, said the mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus bite people outside the homes, don't fly very far and die after two weeks.

But he said before that happens they can lay hundreds of eggs, so eliminating the larvae is vital.

Man tests positive for Zika virus in Queensland

Queensland Health said mosquito spraying was being carried out around The Globe Hotel in Depot Hill where the man had spent time at, after mosquitoes that carry the disease, Aedes aegypti, were detected in the area.

Zika may have been sexually transmitted in 14 cases: CDC

In two of the suspected cases, the infection has been confirmed in women whose only known risk factor was sexual contact with an infected male partner who had recently traveled to an area with active Zika transmission through mosquito bites, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.

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CDC: 14 more US reports of possible Zika spread through sex

The 14 cases all involve men who visited areas with Zika outbreaks, and who may have infected their female sex partners, who had not traveled to those areas.

Zika virus is mainly spread by mosquito bites, and sexual transmission has been considered rare. There have been two reported cases, including a recent one in Texas, and at least two other reports of the Zika virus found in semen.

Zika cases continue to rise in Tonga

A national clean up campaign in collaboration with Tonga Red Cross, HMAF military personnel and others has started to eliminate the breeding sites for the mosquitoes that spread the virus.

So far there are 542 suspected cases and seven confirmed cases of Zika. Of the seven cases, two were confirmed in Tonga and five were reported from New Zealand from people who had travelled to Tonga and became sick when they returned home where they tested positive for Zika.

“None of these seven confirmed cases are pregnant women,” he said, but these seven were mostly female.