OFWs to Get Zika Virus Info Prior to Departure
Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) will now encounter information on the Zika virus in their pre-departure orientation seminar.
Authorities said the move is meant to instruct OFWs on what to do in the event of an infection.
Still, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said it will not impose a deployment ban unless the Department of Foreign Affairs raises the alert level on countries affected by the virus.
On Monday, the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency over Zika virus which has caused outbreaks in at least 26 countries in the Americas.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said Zika virus is an “emerging mosquito-borne virus that was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys through a monitoring network of sylvatic yellow fever.”
WHO said the Zika virus disease is “caused by a virus transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, and people with Zika virus disease usually have a mild fever, skin rash (exanthema) and conjunctivitis. These symptoms normally last for 2-7 days.”
When pregnant women contract the virus, their babies are born with an unusually smaller skull.
Experts have yet to find a vaccine or a treatment.
-ANC’s News Now, February 5, 2016