CDC Adds Fiji to Interim Travel Guidance Related to Zika Virus

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Media Statement

 

For Immediate Release

Monday, April 4, 2016

                                                                                                                                                   

Contact: CDC Media Relations

404-639-3286                                                 

 

CDC Adds Fiji to Interim Travel Guidance Related to Zika Virus

 

CDC is working with other public health officials to monitor for ongoing Zika virus‎ transmission. Today, CDC posted a Zika virus travel notice for Fiji. CDC has issued travel notices (level 2, “practice enhanced precautions”) for people traveling to destinations with Zika. For a full list of affected countries/regions, visit http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/zika-travel-information.

 

As more information becomes available, CDC’s travel notices will be updated. Travelers to areas with cases of Zika virus infection are at risk of being infected with the Zika virus. Mosquitoes that spread Zika are aggressive daytime biters. They also bite at night. There is no vaccine or medicine for Zika virus. The best way to avoid Zika virus infection is to prevent mosquito bites. 

 

Some travelers to areas with Zika will become infected while traveling but will not become sick until they return home and they might not have any symptoms. To help stop the spread of Zika, travelers should use insect repellent for three weeks after travel to prevent mosquito bites.

 

Some people who are infected do not have any symptoms. People who do have symptoms have reported fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes. The sickness is usually mild with symptoms that last from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon and the number of deaths is low. Travelers to areas with Zika should monitor for symptoms or sickness upon return. If they become sick, they should tell their healthcare professional when and where they have traveled.

 

CDC has received reports of Zika virus being spread by sexual contact with sick returning travelers. Until more is known, CDC continues to recommend that pregnant women and women trying to become pregnant take the following precautions.

 

Pregnant women

 

·         Should not travel to any area with Zika.

·         If you must travel to or live in one of these areas, talk to your healthcare provider first and strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites.

·         If you have a male partner who lives in or has traveled to an area with Zika, either use condoms, the right way, every time you have sex or do not have sex during your pregnancy.

 

Women trying to get pregnant

 

·         Before you or your male partner travel, talk to your healthcare provider about your plans to become pregnant and the risk of Zika virus infection.

·         You and your male partner should strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites.

 

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is very likely triggered by Zika in a small proportion of infections, much as it is after a variety of other infections. CDC is working with Brazil to study the possibility of a link between Zika and GBS. For more information on Zika, visit www.cdc.gov/zika.

 

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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

 

CDC works 24/7 protecting America’s health, safety and security. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are curable or preventable, chronic or acute, stem from human error or deliberate attack, CDC is committed to respond to America’s most pressing health challenges.

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CDC Adds Fiji to Zika Virus Caution List

by MAGGIE FOX

The Zika virus is not only spreading across the Americas — it has reached the South Pacific, also, and Fiji is the latest country to report the virus locally.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added Fiji on Monday to its list of countries that pregnant women should avoid because mosquitoes there are carrying the virus.

Last week, the CDC added the island of Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia to that list.

"Travelers to areas with cases of Zika virus infection are at risk of being infected with the Zika virus," the CDC said in its notice.

"Mosquitoes that spread Zika are aggressive daytime biters. They also bite at night. There is no vaccine or medicine for Zika virus. The best way to avoid Zika virus infection is to prevent mosquito bites."

U.S. travelers have brought Zika home with them and the CDC's documentedseveral cases of sexual transmission of the virus. In areas where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes circulate, such as Florida and South Texas, small outbreaks of Zika are likely, the CDC said.

But most experts think air conditioning and window screens will keep the virus from spreading explosively in the U.S. in the same way it has in Brazil and Central America.

"To help stop the spread of Zika, travelers should use insect repellent for three weeks after travel to prevent mosquito bites," the CDC advised.

Zika is believed to cause often severe birth defects and a paralyzing conditioncalled Guillain-Barre syndrome, but most people who get it won't even know.

"People who do have symptoms have reported fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes," the CDC said.

CDC advises Zika patients to take acetaminophen to relieve fever and pain. "Do not take aspirin, products containing aspirin, or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen," CDC advises. That's because Zika is a close relative of dengue virus, and people infected with dengue who take aspirin or other NSAIDs can hemorrhage.

"Travelers to areas with Zika should monitor for symptoms or sickness upon return. If they become sick, they should tell their healthcare professional when and where they have traveled."

Pregnant women whose male partner has traveled to a Zika-affected area should use condoms for the entire pregnancy, CDC advises.

 http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/zika-virus-outbreak/cdc-adds-fiji-zika-virus-caution-list-n550541

 

Edited April 5, 2016 by Admin