Brazil sends in 200,000 troops to try to stop
the Zika virus, which has caused huge numbers of babies to be born with small
heads and is spreading globally... and it has ALREADY reached Australia
Health officials are warning that a
mosquito-borne virus that causes brain damage and birth defects in newborn
babies has reached Australia from South America.
The Zika virus, which can cause babies to be born with
abnormally small heads, has spread rapidly across Brazil and prompted the
government to deploy more than 200,000 troops to go house to house to try to
stop its spread. Professor Dominic Dwyer, a virologist from Sydney's Westmead
Hospital, confirmed that Australians returning from South America have
contracted the virus
But only one type of mosquito carries the virus, and that type only
exists in far north Queensland, he said. There have been no transmissions reported
yet in Australia either by mosquito or human-to-human. 'We're not entirely sure yet whether some of the Australian
mosquitoes could carry Zika virus... So I think there's a bit more work to be
done to sort that out,' Professor Dwyer told ABC NEWS 'But what we haven't had is evidence of the spread of the
infection from one person to another in this country. 'The main mosquito carriers of the virus are not present to
any great degree in Australia, except perhaps up in the top end of Queensland,'
said Professor Dwyer. 
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has issued a
warning to Australians travelers, particularly pregnant women, to reconsider
plans to travel to 22 countries affected by the virus.
'The outbreaks can be so rapid and so large, that if you
travel into that sort of outbreak scenario, then there is a reasonably high
risk you could get infected,' Professor Dwyer told ABC NEWS.
The
Brazilian government, under growing pressure to deal with the Zika Virus
crisis, is handing out repellent to at least 400,000 pregnant women on social
welfare.
The World Health Organisation has warned that the virus,
which is suspected causing horrific brain damage to babies, will spread
throughout all countries in America except Chile and Canada.
'Our investigation is on course to develop a better testing
with respect to the prenatal transmission of the disease, and to better
understand how the virus affects babies,' said a spokesman for the
organisation.
A surge in incidents across Latin America, notably in
Brazil, has prompted the United States and other governments to warn pregnant
women against traveling to the region - an alarming prospect for Brazil as it
gears up to welcome the Olympics to Rio de Janeiro in August.
Cases of the virus have also been discovered in Europe -
with three cases in Great Britain, four in Italy and two in Spain's Catalonia
region. The British travelers had picked up the disease after being bitten by
mosquitoes while visiting Colombia, Suriname and Guyana.
All the cases so far discovered in Europe have been in
people who recently returned from trips to Latin America or the
Caribbean.
But experts now believe that the disease itself could
potentially be spread within Italy by the Tiger Mosquito – which, although once
native to Asia, is now widespread across southern Europe.
'The disease could be carried by the Tiger Mosquito,'
Fabrizio Pregliasco, a virologist at the University of Milan, told La
Repubblica.
The infected patient was then bitten by a Tiger Mosquito, and the
Chikungunya virus was spread to over 200 people.'
He continued: 'We need to isolate infected people and ensure
that if they have the disease they don't leave their homes to try and ensure
they don't pass to disease to a Tiger Mosquito.
'It's like a fire: if you put it out straight away it's no
problem, if not it can become a huge blaze.'
Pregnant women have been warned not to travel to the 22
countries where the infection has been reported, which include nations in Latin
America, the Caribbean, Africa and Oceania - but this could cause havoc for the
upcoming Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
Unlike some other international health scares, the Zika
virus is not spread person to person and people are only becoming infected
after being bitten by mosquitoes. For most people who get infected
, the
flu-like symptoms will clear up in about a week.
, the
flu-like symptoms will clear up in about a week.
But the specific threat to pregnant women and their
foetuses, and the seeming impossibility of avoiding mosquitoes in tropical
countries, has given this crisis extra gravity.
Brazil has recorded at least 3,893 microcephaly cases since
an unusual spike in the rare condition was noticed in the country's northeast
in October. Previously an annual average of 160 cases was the norm. And short of not getting pregnant, there is no foolproof
method for avoiding risk.
Mr Castro said last week that the Aedes aegypti mosquito,
which carries Zika and also dengue fever and the chikungunya virus, was gaining
momentum.
Dr Dipti Patel, director at National Travel Health Network
and Centre, warned: 'All travellers, especially pregnant women going to the
Americas, should ensure they seek travel health advice from their GP or a
travel clinic well in advance of their trip.
'We strongly advise all travellers to avoid mosquito bites
and urge pregnant women to consider avoiding travel to areas where Zika
outbreaks are currently reported.
'If travel is unavoidable, or they live in areas where Zika
is reported, they should take scrupulous insect bite avoidance measures both
during daytime and nighttime hours.
'Women who are planning to become pregnant should discuss
their travel plans with their healthcare provider to assess the risk of
infection with Zika and receive advice on mosquito bite avoidance
measures.' Dr Hilary Kirkbride, travel and migrant health expert at
PHE, said: 'The symptoms of Zika are similar to other mosquito-borne infections
such as dengue, chikungunya and malaria so laboratory testing is essential for
the correct diagnosis.
'If you have recently returned from the Americas, including
the Caribbean, and have a fever or flu-like illness, seek medical attention
without delay to exclude malaria and mention your travel history.' 
The Foreign Office advised Britons to seek advice before
travelling anywhere where the virus has been reported in the last year
'particularly if you're pregnant or planning to become pregnant'.
Only a handful of Zika cases had ever been documented before
2013.
But scientists began sounding the alarm after multiple
outbreaks were discovered in Pacific islands and south-east Asia. It is thought the Zika virus - which was at first thought to
be relatively innocuous - may have arrived in Brazil during the 2014 World Cup
by visitors from French Polynesia, where an outbreak had just occurred.
Scientists estimate as many as 1.5 million people could now
be infected in Brazil.
Colombia has the second highest infection rate, with more
than 13,500 people infected with the virus and the disease could hit as many as
700,000, its health minister said.
The country's health minister, Alejandro Gaviria, urged
women to delay pregnancies for up to eight months. He said: 'We are doing this because I believe it's a good
way to communicate the risk, to tell people that there could be serious
consequences.'
Similar warnings were issued in Ecuador, El Salvador and
Jamaica.
However, women's rights campaigners criticised the
recommendations, saying women in the region often had little choice about
becoming pregnant.'It's incredibly naive for a government to ask women to
postpone getting pregnant in a context such as Colombia, where more than 50% of
pregnancies are unplanned and across the region where sexual violence is
prevalent,' said Monica Roa, a member of Women's Link Worldwide group.
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