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Two cases of Zika virus reported in US

Health ministry employees spray to eliminate breeding sites of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which transmits diseases such as the dengue, chicunguna and Zika viruses, in a cemetery in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa on January 21, 2016. (AFP)

At least two cases of the Zika virus have been confirmed in the US as more are expected to arise.

In a statement on Tuesday, the US Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) confirmed that two cases have been detected in New York City, Sputnik reported.

"To date, there have been three confirmed New York City cases: 1 in 2013 and 2 in 2016," the statement read. "It is likely that there are other cases that were not reported."

There were also reports of another case in Arkansas.

Apart from that, there may be cases still unreported due to shortage of commercial testing as well as patients’ reluctance to seek medical care.

The virus causes a mild fever and rashes but 80 percent of the infected show no symptoms.

The World Health Organization said Monday that the whole continent is susceptible to virus, except for Canada and Chile.

The virus, for which there is still no vaccine or treatment, is mosquito-borne and linked to brain damage in thousands of Brazil’s infants.

The virus could have links with microcephaly, a fetal deformation in Brazilian babies that gives them brains smaller than normal.

Nearly 4,000 people cases of microcephaly were reported in Brazil in 2015, according to WHO.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidelines Tuesday for pediatricians treating infants, whose mothers could have been exposed to the virus.

The National Institutes of Health also called for stepping up efforts to study the link between the virus and birth effects.


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