Three patients test positive for Zika virus after return from overseas

CASES OF the Zika virus have been reported by a Yorkshire hospital trust.

Three people were found to be carrying the virus when treated at Calderdale and Huddersfield hospitals after returning from overseas.

Zika has been declared a “global public health emergency” by the World Health Organisation and has spread rapidly in South America after being reported in Brazil in May 2015.

Experts said the virus, a mild infection which is not harmful for most people, was unlikely to spread in the UK.

But pregnant women are advised to delay travelling to affected countries overseas after evidence was found linking Zika to birth defects.

The cases at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust emerged in an infection control report to the organisation’s trust board meeting. The report said: “Three patients have tested positive for Zika virus following return from foreign travel.”

The Zika virus is mainly spread by mosquitos and can be transmitted between humans by sexual contact.

Dr Gavin Boyd, infection control lead at Calderdale and Huddersfield hospitals, said: “There is no specific treatment for Zika and it usually wears off naturally after two to seven days.

“After a diagnosis patients are cared for by their GPs if needed.

“There is extremely low risk of contracting Zika virus in the UK as the mosquito that transmits the infection is not present in the UK, however it can be spread by sexual transmission.”

Zika has been linked to birth defects including microcephaly, which causes babies to have abnormally small heads.

FLORIDA APPEARS to have the first cases of Zika transmitted by mosquitoes on the US mainland, according to the state governor.

Rick Scott said during a news conference in Orlando that no mosquitoes in the state have tested positive for Zika, but one woman and three men in Miami-Dade and Broward counties probably contracted the virus through mosquito bites.

More than 1,650 Zika infections have been reported in the US, but the four patients in Florida would be the first not linked to travel outside the US mainland.

Mr Scott said health officials believe the infections occurred in a small area just north of central Miami.

Zika primarily spreads through bites from tropical mosquitoes. In most people, the virus causes only mild illness, but infection during pregnancy can lead to severe brain-related birth defects for the foetus.

Miami-Dade County has reported 96 Zika cases, the most in Florida so far, and Broward County has 55. Until yesterday, health officials said all the cases stemmed from international travel.

Zika is mainly spread by mosquitoes and can also be sexually transmitted. There is no vaccine.

The tropical mosquito that spreads Zika and other viruses is found in the southern US. While health officials have predicted that mosquitoes in the continental US would begin spreading Zika this summer, they have also said they expect only isolated clusters of infections.

The US Food and Drug Administration has told blood centres in two counties to suspend collections until they can screen each unit of blood for the Zika virus with authorised tests.