Second case of sexually-transmitted Zika virus diagnosed in Spain
Tuesday, August 2, 2016 @ 10:40 AM
A SECOND case of the Zika virus being sexually-transmitted has been detected in Spain – this time in the Greater Madrid region.
No trace of the Aedes Albopictus or Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which carries the virus, has been found anywhere in Spain, meaning all bar two of the 193 recorded cases in the country are imported as the patients had been in at-risk Latin American countries prior to diagnosis.
Only two sexually-transmitted virus diagnoses have been made, in Catalunya and in Madrid.
So far, 64 people in Catalunya have become infected, 52 in Madrid, 15 in Aragón, 11 in Castilla y León, seven each in Valencia and Andalucía, six in La Rioja, five each in Navarra and the Balearic Islands, four each in the Canary Islands and the Basque Country, two each in Asturias and Murcia, and one in Castilla-La Mancha.
The Zika virus is not a serious condition – tending to vanish by itself after a week or two of leaving the patient with ‘flu-like symptoms – except if it is caught by pregnant women.
In Latin America particularly, and now in Spain, the virus has been linked to microcephaly in unborn babies – where the brain is too small and underdeveloped, giving the head a ‘squashed’ appearance and meaning the child will be physically and mentally handicapped for life.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com