First Zika-related deaths are confirmed in Colombia

THE first three deaths of patients infected with the Zika virus have been confirmed in Colombia after they contracted an apparently related disease.

Officials in Medellín reported that a man and woman admitted from other areas died in the past week after showing symptoms of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), which include muscle weakness and paralysis. Another man died in November. All had tested positive for the Zika virus.

Brazil, meanwhile, warned pregnant women not to share utensils after studies raised the possibility of the virus being transmitted by bodily fluids.

Zika has now spread to more than 20 countries, with Brazil reporting 4,000 cases and Colombia 2,500.

The virus, spread by mosquitoes, is not fatal but it has been linked to microcephaly, where babies’ heads fail to develop properly in the womb, leaving them brain damaged, and to GBS. The World Health Organisation announced yesterday that it will seek $25 million (£17.3 million) for a six-month programme to fight the virus, including money for studies on whether it is spread by sex or blood transfusions.

It said pregnant women in affected countries must also have access to counselling and technology to make informed choices, including whether to abort foetuses with microcephaly.

Cases of the fetal condition have spiked in Brazil in recent months. In Colombia, Alejandro Gaviria, the health minister, said that his country had registered about 100 cases of GBS that are believed to be related to the Zika virus.

So far his country had no reported cases of related microcephaly. “It’s sort of a mystery,” he said.

Mr Gaviria added that either Colombia will start seeing microcephaly cases soon, or there are factors in Brazil that predispose patients to it that do not exist in Colombia.