MIL OSI – Source: Auckland Regional Public Health Service – Press Release/Statement
Headline: Zika virus poses risk to pregnant women
News that the zika virus, transmitted by mosquitoes, has been linked to birth defects overseas has prompted the Ministry of Health to issue a travel warning to pregnant women, or women planning pregnancy.
The virus is not carried by mosquitoes in New Zealand but it does occur in the Pacific Islands.
The Ministry of Health is advising pregnant women and women wanting to become pregnant to delay traveling to places where the virus is currently circulating. If they are already in such a place, they should protect themselves against mosquito bites as much as possible. Its bite-prevention advice, along with the latest information on currently-affected countries, is published on the ministry’s website, and on the Safe Travel website.
The BBC is reporting that in Brazil, the number of babies born with suspected microcephaly, or abnormally small brains, has reached 4000 since October 2015, compared with 150 in 2014. It is currently affecting one per cent of all babies born in Brazil. Authorities there attribute this to an ongoing outbreak of the zika virus. A small number of babies who died had the virus in their brains.
Health authorities in French Polynesia discovered some evidence newborn children were affected by congenital malformations during the 2013 and 2014 outbreak of zika. Health authorities throughout the Pacific Islands are currently checking for further evidence in their nations.
All cases reported in New Zealand over the past two years have come from the Pacific Islands. Nearly 40 cases came from the Cook Islands in 2014, and five cases came in last year from Samoa (four) and Vanuatu (one).
—