China Confirms 34-Year-Old Man As First Zika Virus Victim In The Country

The outbreak of the Zika virus has spread to some parts of the Western Hemisphere including Central and South America and South East Asia. Because of this, the World Health Organization has declared the virus outbreak as a "global health emergency" that significantly affects pregnant and would be pregnant women.

Yesterday, ABC News reported that China confirmed its first Zika virus case. The victim is a man who traveled from Venezuela recently.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission of China said in a statement that the 34-year-old man was from the Ganxian County, a place located in the eastern province of Jiangxi. He had been treated in Venezuela before travelling back through Hongkong and Shenzhen on Feb. 5.

BBC News reported yesterday that he was gradually recovering from the illness as he was hospital quarantined in Ganxian since Saturday last week.

Health officials in Guangdong, China encouraged people to become vigilant in guarding their health against the virus during dengue season. Moreover, officials vowed to step up and become more proactive with their efforts to safeguard the health of its people by ensuring early virus detection.

Meanwhile in the United States, at least, 66 individuals were diagnosed with the virus according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The victims mostly got the illness from travelling to Zika-infected countries while one case was believed to have been sexually transmitted from an infected individual.

Medical experts said that the Zika virus is transmitted to the human body through the bite of an Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which also spreads dengue hemorrhagic fever. The common symptoms of the virus included conjunctivitis, malaise or headache, muscle and joint pains, fever, and skin rashes. Before its widespread outbreak, several reports pointed out that the virus was found in tropical areas such as South East Asia, Pacific Islands, Brazil, and Africa.