25 Zika cases recorded here

If you maintain the mosquito density at very low level which Fiji has right now, we can eliminate the disease from the country: Dr Kama

Twenty-five Zika virus cases have been recorded by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services so far this year. This was confirmed by National Adviser for Communicable Diseases, Dr Mike Kama. Zika virus is spread to people through mosquitoes and the first recorded cases began earlier this year.

“The cases have been recorded from February till now,” Dr Kama said. “But, the transmission rate seems to be low compare the number of samples the Ministry of Health and Medical Services sent for lab testing that comes back positive,” he said. Dr Kama said in the low transmission situation in any country the clean-up campaign was very important. “If you maintain the mosquito density at very low levels which Fiji has right now, we can eliminate the disease from the country. “But that depends how far we can sustain the low density of mosquitoes,” he said. Dr Kama said the ministry was hoping to maintain this till the end of the year. “We are urging the members of the public to keep their environment clean and destroy mosquito breeding places and protect themselves from mosquito,” he said. Edited by Rusiate Mataika