Queensland reports imported Zika virus case
An Australian traveler to the Cook Islands was diagnosed with Zika virus infection upon return to Queensland, according to a Tropical Medical Bureau report Tuesday.
Image/CIA
The report notes:
A serum sample collected in March 2014 was positive by 2 separate Zika virus TaqMan real-time RT-PCRs and a pan-Flavivirus RT-PCR. Nucleotide sequencing and phylogenetics revealed 99.1 per cent homology with a previous Cambodia 2010 sequence within the Asian lineage. Flavivirus IgG and IgM antibodies were also detected in the serum sample.
The ECDC reports that as of 25 March 2014, there are 49 confirmed and 630 suspected cases with Zika-like symptoms on the Cook Islands.
This is the 1st known imported case of Zika virus infection into northern Queensland, where the potential mosquito vector Aedes aegypti is present, and only the 2nd such case diagnosed within Australia.
Elsewhere in the Pacific, in French Polynesia, since October 2013 and as of 28 March 2014, 8 723 suspected Zika virus (ZIKAV) cases have been reported, of which 15 were reported during the past week, according to the Health Surveillance Bureau for French Polynesia. Overall, the epidemic is declining in all islands of French Polynesia.
In New Caledonia, as of 27 March 2014, 401 cases of ZIKAV infection have been recorded since November 2013, of which 369 are autochthonous cases. Of these, eleven were reported during last week.
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