A medical worker at the Khanh Hoa Hospital of Tropical Diseases examines blood samples for Zika testing (Photo: VNA)Khanh Hoa (VNA) – A recent Zika virus outbreak is officially ended at the commune and ward level in the south central coastal province of Khanh Hoa from April 20.
The declaration was issued by the provincial People’s Committee on April 22.
The Zika outbreak at the commune and ward level was declared on April 5, shortly following the Ministry of Health’s announcement of the first two Zika cases in Vietnam, including one in Khanh Hoa.
The Zika-positive patient there was a 64-year-old woman residing in Phuoc Hoa ward of Nha Trang city. She contracted the virus through mosquito bites and began to show signs of fever on March 26 with the symptoms of headache, skin rashes and conjunctivitis.
According to the health ministry’s regulations, a Zika outbreak is declared over when there are no further cases within 24 days since the last patient started showing Zika symptoms.
Ho Chi Minh City also declared the end of its Zika outbreak at ward level on April 21. It recorded a Zika-infected patient in Thanh My Loi ward in District 2. The pregnant woman, 33, was hospitalised on March 29.
Zika is mainly transmitted through the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which also carries dengue fever. The virus has been linked to microcephaly, a condition that causes babies to be born with small heads, and in the vast majority of cases, brain damage.
Currently there is no vaccine or specific medicine to treat the disease.-VNA
