Singapore reports 40 more locally transmitted Zika cases
Singapore has said on Sunday that 40 more cases of locally transmitted Zika virus infection have been detected, a day after the first of such cases was reported in the country.
According to a joint statement released by the Ministry of Health and the National Environment Agency, 36 of the patients were foreign workers at a construction site.
"They are not known to have traveled to Zika-affected areas recently, and are thus likely to have been infected in Singapore," the statement added.
On Saturday, Singaporean authorities announced the first locally transmitted Zika case, who was a 47-year-old Malaysian woman.
“This confirms that local transmission of Zika virus infection has taken place,” the statement said, adding that all the 41 detected cases were residents or workers in the Aljunied Crescent and Sims Drive, a suburban residential and industrial neighborhood.
According to the statement, 34 of the total infected people have fully recovered while the remaining seven, who are still symptomatic and potentially infectious, are still in hospital.
The first case of an imported Zika virus infection in Singapore, however, was announced in May, when a 48-year-old male national was confirmed with the virus. The patient had traveled to Sao Paulo in Brazil earlier in the year.
Zika is primarily spread by Aedes Aegypti mosquito, but can also be transmitted through sexual contact.
Although the symptoms of the virus are relatively mild and only 1 in 5 persons exposed to it become ill, those who are experiencing fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, have been strongly advised to seek immediate medical care.
The virus was first detected in Brazil last year and has since been spreading explosively to more than 30 countries, particularly in South America. It is linked with a surge in cases of microcephaly, an untreatable condition in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and undeveloped brains.
The World Health Organization says at least a dozen laboratories across the world are working on a vaccine, but bringing it to market could take years.
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