ZIKA DETECTED IN AMERICAN TRAVELLER

Posted on 01/29/2016 | About Arkansas

The Arkansas Department of Health says a person who recently travelled out of the United States has tested positive for the Zika virus. The department says that the person has a mild case of Zika, which is spread by mosquitoes. Brazilian officials have linked the virus with a rare birth defect.

Spokeswoman Meg Mirivel would not say whether Tuesday if the infected person is a man or woman or give the person's age. Mirivel says the individual travelled to the Central America-Caribbean region, though she would not specify which country. Some US travellers have been infected abroad with Zika but there are no cases of local infection in the US so far. and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have urged pregnant women to consider postponing flights to areas where the virus is prevalent. Cancellation fees waived Meanwhile, Latin America's largest airline says it's waiving cancellation or flight-change fees for pregnant women who want to cancel flights to countries where the Zika virus is present. Grupo LATAM says the policy applies to Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, French Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Suriname and Venezuela. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged pregnant women to consider postponing visits to 22 destinations because of concern that the mosquito-borne virus could be linked to a wave in Brazil of microcephaly cases in which children are born with heads that are smaller than normal and often have developmental problems. The World Health Organization cautions that the link is not yet scientifically proven. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/s0315-zika-virus-travel.html