Five Zika Cases Registered in Portugal – Health Institute
SputnikNews.com
27.01.2016
Five cases of the Zika virus have been spotted in Portugal, the National Health Institute Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA) said Wednesday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The virus, which has been linked to brain defects in unborn babies, has been registered in 21 countries, including both Americas, since last March and is now being reported in Europe.
According to the Jornal de Noticias newspaper, citing INSA, the infected people had recently returned from Brazil, where they contracted the virus.
The outbreak originated in Brazil and spread across Latin America, causing several deaths and hundreds cases of micro-encephalitis and inflammation of the brain that cause deformities in newborns.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued travel warnings across 24 Latin American, Caribbean and the Pacific countries. Several of the affected nations urged women to postpone pregnancies until the outbreak is contained.
