Close X
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
ADVT 
Health

CDC Expands Tropical Virus Alert; 22 Destinations On List

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 22 Jan, 2016 11:51 AM
    Health authorities have added eight tropical destinations to a travel alert about an illness linked with a severe birth defect and spread by mosquitoes.
     
    The updated alert issued Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brings the total to 22 destinations, most in Latin America and the Caribbean, where there have been outbreaks of the Zika virus.
     
    The new locations are Barbados, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin and Guyana; Cape Verde, off the coast of western Africa; and Samoa in the South Pacific.
     
    Last week's alert included Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Suriname and Venezuela.
     
    The CDC says pregnant women should consider postponing trips to these destinations because the virus has been linked with microcephaly. Affected newborns have unusually small heads and abnormal brain development.
     
    All travellers to these areas are advised to take precautions, including using repellent and wearing long sleeves and long pants, to avoid mosquito bites.
     
    Zika illness can cause fever, rash and joint pain but most people infected by mosquito bites don't show symptoms. There's no specific treatment; infected people aren't contagious.
     
    The CDC says people who do develop symptoms should tell their doctors where and when they travelled.

    MORE Health ARTICLES

    Premature babies at greater risk of future hip replacements

    Premature babies at greater risk of future hip replacements
    Low birth weight and premature birth are linked to increased risk of osteoarthritis-related hip replacements in adulthood, says a research....

    Premature babies at greater risk of future hip replacements

    Nanobodies to help out in boosting immunity

    Nanobodies to help out in boosting immunity
    Targetting difficult-to-reach areas affected by disease could become a lot easier as researchers have developed a new system to make nanobodies...

    Nanobodies to help out in boosting immunity

    Cancer cell fingerprints could hasten diagnosis in kids

    Cancer cell fingerprints could hasten diagnosis in kids
    Cancers in children will be diagnosed faster and more accurately in future as researchers have identified new cancer cell fingerprints in blood....

    Cancer cell fingerprints could hasten diagnosis in kids

    Dysfunctional protein causes Alzheimer's

    Dysfunctional protein causes Alzheimer's
    Debunking a prevalent theory of Alzheimer's development, researchers have now found that it is not the amyloid-beta (A-beta) protein fragments but the...

    Dysfunctional protein causes Alzheimer's

    Speech analyser could reveal mental health

    Speech analyser could reveal mental health
    A programme that analyses speech and uses it to gain information about one's mental health is in the works....

    Speech analyser could reveal mental health

    Recreational drug use linked to birth defects

    Recreational drug use linked to birth defects
    Babies born to mothers who used recreational drugs during pregnancy are more likely to have birth defects in the brain, said a study....

    Recreational drug use linked to birth defects