Eleven B.C. residents have acquired travel-related Zika virus in the seven months since public health officials started testing for the mosquito-borne virus, including four pregnant women. Health officials have not disclosed whether the pregnant women have elected to have abortions.
But the B.C. Women’s Hospital Reproductive Infectious Diseases Clinic is tasked with monitoring them.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control says it has conducted 1,147 tests on B.C. and Yukon residents since last November. Across Canada, 126 travel-related cases of Zika have been recorded, in addition to one sexually transmitted case, the latter because Zika can also be carried by semen. Just a few months ago, there were only about 50 confirmed cases of Zika across Canada.
Most of those in B.C. who are getting tested are women, and the majority of those who got Zika virus are also women who travelled to these countries: Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica, Colombia, Dominica, St. Martin and El Salvador. But Health Canada lists 52 countries where Zika is found.
Zika virus infection is mainly spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. The Aedes aegypti mosquito transmits Zika virus. It is the same mosquito that also transmits dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.
Infections can be transmitted by an infected pregnant woman to her fetus and the virus can also be sexually transmitted by an infected man to his partner. Doctors can’t predict how often fetuses will acquire the infection from their mothers or the likelihood of birth defects. But a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine recently showed a significant increase in abortions in Latin American countries where the virus is circulating. Infected women can choose to have an abortion in B.C. anytime up to 23.6 weeks.
Symptoms of Zika virus include fever, skin rash, headache, conjunctivitis (pinkeye), as well as pain in muscles and joints. While the illness is usually mild and short-lived, the virus can cause brain damage in infected babies. Countries where the virus is endemic are also seeing more cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a neurological illness.
In March of this year, the World Health Organization declared Zika a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
Pregnant women have been advised by the Public Health Agency of Canada to avoid travel to countries with ongoing Zika virus outbreaks. Travellers are encouraged to protect themselves from mosquito bites.
