Zika Update: Some Symptoms You Need To Know

By Jenn Loro - 13 May '16 08:49AM

A group of New York-based doctors has recently revealed the distinctive symptoms that are linked with the dreaded Zika virus in order to advise doctors nationwide what to look out for.

Appearing on JAMA Dermatology's online edition, the said doctors described in detail the Zika symptoms observed in the case of a 44-year-old man who had just returned to New York after spending some time in Puerto Rico.

For Zika-infected patients, the common symptoms found include red eyes, joint pains, rashes, and fever. Sometimes a person who may not exhibit all but only one of the said symptoms might still be possible Zika case. Other illnesses like flu or mosquito-borne ailments could also cause patients to exhibit similar symptoms.

As reported by Time Magazine, people who start showing symptoms of the virus two weeks since their return from a trip to Zika-affected region should seek immediate medical attention for tests. In addition, all pregnant women who traveled to such areas should get tested regardless of whether they exhibit Zika-related symptoms or not.

In recent months, Zika has seen a major upsurge across Latin America as well as the Caribbean and South Pacific prompting the US government to issue health advisory to Americans who plan on going to these regions. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said that as many as 500 people are estimated to have been infected with the virus after coming back from a trip to countries where Zika cases are reportedly high, NBC News reported.

Now that the mosquito season is about to start in the US, outbreaks are expected to take place in areas where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes circulate in great numbers that covers much of the American south all the way up to Kansas and even New York.

Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) insisted that the Rio Olympics will proceed in three months' time as planned despite troubling concerns over the increasing number of Zika infections, New York Daily News reported.

As previously covered in a number of media outfits, Brazil is one of those countries where the virus hit the hardest prompting the government to advise women to delay pregnancy due to a number of serious Zika-linked birth defects including microcephaly- a condition characterized by infants being born with abnormally small heads.