Seoul: South Korea has reported its first confirmed case of the Zika virus on Tuesday in a 43-year old male, who has travelled to Brazil, Korean Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.The 43-year-old man, who had made a business trip to Brazil between Feb 17 and March 9, has been tested positive.
The World Health Organization had on February 1 declared the Zika virus outbreak to be a global public health emergency, citing a ‘strongly suspected’ relationship between Zika infection in pregnancy and microcephaly.
The condition is defined by unusually small heads that can result in developmental problems. Brazil said it has confirmed more than 860 cases of microcephaly, and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Zika is a virus that is mainly spread by mosquito bites but it can be also transmitted through sexual relations and blood transfusion, according to the KCDC. Cases of sexual transmission from travellers to their sexual partners have been confirmed.
