Mexico, Paraguay and El Salvador: Zika Virus Spreads in the Americas Robert Herriman - Outbreak News Today
go to original November 29, 2015

Just a little over a week after the report of the first imported Zika virus infection in Mexico, health authorities have confirmed the first autochthonous, locally acquired cases of the mosquito borne viral infection.

According to a report in the Nacional last week, Health Secretary, Dr. Mercedes Juan López said two confirmed indigenous cases were reported in Chiapas and Nuevo Leon. “Yes I want to unfortunately inform that we now have two cases of native Zika already confirmed,” she said during his speech at the opening of the 12th Annual National Meeting of the National Health Council in Merida.

In Paraguay, six indigenous Zika cases were reported in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero, notes Deputy Health Minister Maria Teresa Baran in a Paraguay.com report Friday. Minister Baran also said there are other suspected Zika patients in the cities of Ciudad del Este and Concepción.

More than two weeks ago, we reported on a suspect Zika virus case in El Salvador. On Thursday, Spanish-language news source, El Nacional reported three positive Zika virus samples that were confirmed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Ft. Collins. A total of ten samples were sent to the CDC laboratory.

This is a disease that was introduced in America via Easter Island in 2014 and later appeared in Brazil and this year. Colombia and Suriname have also reported local transmission if Zika.

Zika virus is transmitted to human through the same mosquito vector that transmits dengue and chikungunya, the Aedes mosquito.

Read the rest at Outbreak News Today

Related: Zika Virus 101: One More Mosquito-Borne Disease To Worry About (UPR.org)

Related: Zika Virus Feared to Cause Newborn Deformities Spreads In Latin America and the Caribbean (HNGN)

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