Zika Virus Confirmed in Jamaica!
Jamaica has confirmed its first case of the Zika virus.
According to the Gleaner, The Ministry of Health has confirmed one case of the Zika virus in Jamaica. The patient who has now recovered is a four year old child from Portmore, St Catherine.
The child began showing symptoms on January 17 after earlier returning to Jamaica from travel to Texas in the United States.
The child was investigated at the Bustamante Hospital for Children and samples sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) for testing on January 26, 2016. The Ministry received the positive Zika virus test result from CARPHA late yesterday.
The case is being investigated to determine the source of infection and the child’s parents and family have been contacted and briefed by a team from the Ministry of Health.
No other family member is ill at this time.
Several countries in the past few weeks have asked women to delay pregnancy after the virus was linked to micro-encephalitis, an inflammation of the foetal brain that can stunt the growth of the affected foetus’.
Doctors in Brazil have also linked the virus to Guillain-Barré Syndrome, (GBS) – a potentially life threatening syndrome in which a person’s immune system attacks part of the nervous system, leaving some patients unable to move and dependent on life support.
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