China ready for Zika, but chance of outbreak slim
Print Edition
China faces the risk of importing the Zika virus, but the possibility of an outbreak is low, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said yesterday.
Since 2014, Zika cases have been reported in the Americas and imported cases have been confirmed in Europe, Asia and Oceania. The World Health Organization on Thursday warned that the virus is spreading “explosively” in the Americas, where it could infect as many as 4 million people.
Brazil has been badly hit, with the government deploying more than 200,000 troops to eradicate mosquitoes.
Experts at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said they believe that even if there were imported cases, the mosquito-borne virus, for which there are currently no treatments or vaccines, would be less likely to spread due to the cold weather conditions.
The health commission said it will cooperate with the WHO and follow the virus outbreak in other regions. Also, disease control experts will conduct risk evaluations, prepare for virus-control plans, and help medical workers to become better prepared, it said, adding that the China CDC has developed testing reagents for virus detection.
The Zika virus is spread through the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is also responsible for dengue, yellow fever and other tropical diseases. Symptoms of infection include fever, joint pain, rashes, conjunctivitis, headaches, muscle pain and eye pain. It is also blamed for severe birth defects.
Southeast Asian countries said yesterday they are bracing themselves for the virus.
Malaysia’s Health Ministry said Zika has not yet been detected. “If it is introduced by an infected Malaysian or by a visitor to Malaysia, it could spread quickly,” said Lokman Hakim Sulaiman, Malaysia’s Health Ministry’s deputy director-general.
Neighboring Singapore has also not detected any infections, but the government said there was a high risk of transmission if cases were imported.
In Thailand, where just one case of Zika has been reported so far this year, the likelihood of the virus spreading is low, officials said.
“Thailand is a medium-sized country with a good public health system and easy-to-access medical facilities,” said Amnuay Gajeena, director-general of the Disease Control Department.
The WHO said earlier that the rapid spread of Zika in the Americas was due to a lack of immunity among a population that had not been previously exposed to the virus.
The WHO’s Western Pacific Region Office in Manila said that as long as Aedes mosquitoes circulated in the region “it can be anticipated that the virus will emerge.”
In the Western Pacific, Zika was first reported in Micronesia in 2007. It was reported in French Polynesia in October 2013, and since then, a number of Pacific Island countries have reported cases.
In Australia, the foreign ministry’s travel advice website said there have been no reported cases.
The New Zealand Herald cited the Ministry of Health as saying that it had received nine Zika notifications since the start of the year. All of the travelers had been in the Pacific Islands and eight of them had recovered, the report said.
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