Abu Dhabi Health Chiefs urge Providers to Report Suspected Zika Cases
The National staff
ABU DHABI // Abu Dhabi’s health regulator has called on service providers to report any suspected Zika cases.
They should treat any patients who have symptoms that appear two weeks after travelling to regions where the virus has been detected as suspected cases, the Health Authority Abu Dhabi said on Monday, according to Al Ittihad, The National’s Arabic-language sister paper.
The authority said any signs of microcephaly – abnormal smallness of the head – should be reported when linked to travel to countries including Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Salvador, French Guiana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, Surinam, US Virgin Islands and Venezuela.
Symptoms of infection include a rash or a high temperature, joint pain, muscle tenderness, conjunctivitis, congestion and headache.
For pregnant women, symptoms include severe rash, a foetus head circumference that is smaller than normal, virus in the womb and spontaneous abortion accompanied by rash.
The World Health Organisation termed the virus a public health emergency of international concern last month after an outbreak in Brazil. Health authorities there and in French Polynesia, where an outbreak occurred in 2013, reported potential neurological and auto-immune complications from the virus, which is transmitted by a type of mosquito.
UAE health officials have previously said the risk of Zika spreading to the UAE was low.