Tonga Declares Zika Outbreak

Five cases of the ZIKV infection confirmed, hundreds of suspected cases being investigated

The South Pacific island-nation of Tonga has declared an outbreak of the Zika virus after five cases of the infection were confirmed.

The outbreak comes shortly after Brazilian government’s health authorities announced that active Zika virus had been detected in the saliva and urine of an unspecified number of patients.

Meanwhile, Spain confirmed Thursday that a pregnant woman was diagnosed with the Zika virus infection, the first reported case in Europe.

“The woman is among seven people who showed symptoms of Zika after visiting affected countries, the ministry said, adding that she was under medical treatment in the northeastern region of Catalonia,” said a report.

Earlier this week, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported a new case of infection involving the spread of virus through sex in Texas.

Zika in the U.S. (as of posting)

• A total of 35 travel-associated Zika virus disease cases have been reported to CDC from 11 U.S. states, and DC, including 9 cases in Florida and 8 in Texas.
• No locally acquired vector-borne cases have been reported from the continental United States.
• Nine locally acquired cases and 1 travel-associated case have been reported to CDC from U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Global map of the predicted distribution of Ae. aegypti. The map depicts the probability of occurrence (from 0 blue to 1 red) at a spatial resolution of 5 km × 5 km. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.08347.004

Zika Travel Notices -CDC

• Zika Virus in Cape Verde
• Zika Virus in the Caribbean
  Currently includes: Barbados; Curaçao; Dominican Republic; Guadeloupe; Haiti; Jamaica; Martinique; the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory; Saint Martin; U.S. Virgin Islands
• Zika Virus in Central America
  Currently includes: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama
• Zika Virus in Mexico
• Zika Virus in the Pacific Islands
  Currently includes: American Samoa, Samoa, Tonga
• Zika Virus in South America
  Currently includes: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela