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Outbreak News Today is reporting that the Ministry of Health and Social Development confirmed five cases of the Zika virus in the British Virgin Islands last week.
According to the report, three of the cases were tested locally and found to be positive and two cases were tested overseas and found to be positive as well. The cases were contracted in the Cane Garden Bay and Havers areas of Tortola, according to Outbreak News Today.
The local Zika transmission, which means that mosquitoes in the area are infected with Zika virus and are spreading it to people, has prompted a travel notice issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to the report.
The CDC also recently added the Cayman Islands, Antigua and Barbuda and Turks and Caicos to its interim travel guidance related to the Zika virus in the Caribbean.
Those previously included the Caribbean islands and territories of Barbados; Bonaire; Aruba; Curacao; French Guiana; Cuba; Dominica; Belize; U.S. Virgin Islands; Martinique; Saba; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Guadeloupe; Puerto Rico; St. Maarten/St. Martin; Trinidad and Tobago; Guyana; Haiti; Dominican Republic; Anguilla; St. Lucia; Grenada; St. Eustatius; Suriname; St. Barthelemy and Jamaica.
According to the CDC, many people infected with Zika virus do not get sick. Among those who do develop symptoms, sickness is usually mild, with symptoms that last for several days to a week. Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a rare disorder that can cause muscle weakness and paralysis for a few weeks to several months, is very likely triggered by Zika in a small proportion of infections, much as it is after a variety of other infections. Most people fully recover from GBS, but some have permanent damage.
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