THE Singaporean government has confirmed that 41 people have been infected by the Zika virus, but most have fully recovered.
Singapore announced its first Zika infection in May, with the virus imported by a 48-year-old man who had traveled to Brazil. On Sunday, the Health Ministry confirmed 41 locally transmitted cases of the virus.
The ministry said in a statement that the patients were “not known to have traveled to Zika-affected areas recently, and are thus likely to have been infected in Singapore. This confirms that local transmission of Zika virus infection has taken place.”
Of the group, 34 people have recovered, while seven remain at a hospital.
SEE ALSO: Malaysians on alert after first reported Zika case in Singapore
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said authorities are anticipating more Zika cases over time.
Channel News Asia quoted Gan as saying that this is partly because the ministry is conducting tests in affected areas, as well as the possibility that there could be imported cases in future.
“Singapore has a very high volume of international travel, therefore imported cases are almost inevitable,” Gan said.
He added that there is a “high likelihood” that the virus was being imported to Singapore as many cases are asymptomatic, adding that local transmission was “also very high”
The Health Ministry, he said, is monitoring the situation with the help of doctors to identify the affected areas, allowing them to carry out vector control.
SEE ALSO: WHO declares Zika a global emergency as Southeast Asia braces for outbreak
Zika is typically mild and seldom causes death, but shares symptoms with its vastly more fatal cousin – dengue – a common viral scourge in tropical Southeast Asia. Both are viruses are spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. This makes nations ordinarily ravaged by dengue particularly vulnerable to Zika as well.
Zika and dengue are both endemic to tropical climates, and patients tend to display similar symptoms, such as muscle and joint pain, rashes, headaches and fever. Southeast Asian countries have had cases of Zika as recently as 2010.
However, the outbreak of the Zika virus in South America and its suspected link to causing microcephaly – a congenital condition associated with incomplete brain development – among babies has raised serious health concerns around the world.
There are no vaccines for either disease, though researchers are currently carrying out clinical testing in regions vulnerable to the viruses.
Additional reporting from the Associated Press
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