 HAVANA – Cuba detected its seventh case of imported Zika virus in a pregnant physician who returned on March 22 from a cooperation mission in Brazil, local media reported Sunday. The 36-year-old resident of the eastern province of Guantanamo is not showing any overt symptoms of the disease, but because she is 28 weeks pregnant she was immediately admitted to Havana’s Angel Arturo Aballi Hospital, the official Juventud Rebelde newspaper reported. There, tests were performed on her – and came back positive – for the virus. To date, Cuba has officially confirmed eight cases of Zika, just one of which appears to be due to domestic infection, a 21-year-old woman who had not traveled abroad. The other seven cases were all imported. The news of the eighth case of Zika coincides with the announcement that a second campaign to eliminate Aedes aegypti mosquitoes – the transmitters of Zika, dengue fever and Chikungunya – will be launched on Monday. The new campaign includes new fumigation equipment and the deployment of students nationwide to educate the public on the need to eradicate the mosquitoes. Health Minister Roberto Morales said last week that given the increase in people arriving from countries where Zika, dengue and Chikungunya are prevalent, Cuba’s “only” guarantee against the diseases is to continue working to eliminate the possibilities of transmission. |