First Zika Case Of The Year Has Been Reported In Australia
First Zika Case Of The Year Has Been Reported In Australia
The Zika outbreaks of 2015-16 affected countries all around the globe. Obviously, countries located within the Americas, especially Brazil, were hit the hardest by Zika. But many Americans assume that some regions of the world were unaffected by the virus. Obviously, some countries located in Arctic regions, such as Iceland and Greenland, did not experience Zika outbreaks. This is obviously due to the fact that excessively cold weather does not allow for the existence of mosquitoes. However, every region that is considered tropical or subtropical did see outbreaks of the virus. Southeast Asia saw plenty of Zika cases, but surprisingly some tropical and subtropical regions of the world enacted public health measures that succeeded in keeping the number of Zika cases relatively low. Australia is one location where the climate is ideal for mosquitoes. Despite this, Australian public health officials managed to keep Zika infection rates surprisingly low. In fact, there has not been one single case of the Zika virus reported within Australia in 2017. Except, of course, for one case that was recently reported.
A man from Queensland is the first Australian citizen diagnosed with the Zika virus in 2017. The man contracted the mosquito-borne disease while staying in Cuba several months ago. Initially, doctors misdiagnosed the man after he reported to a hospital in Australia to address unpleasant physical symptoms that he was experiencing. According to medical officials, the doctor that misdiagnosed the Zika-infected man did not run the proper medical tests on him. According to the doctor who misdiagnosed the Zika-infected Australian man, doctors and public health officials are determined to prevent the spread of the virus within Australia, and no locally transmitted cases of Zika have ever been reported in Australia, therefore, he did not think extensive medical testing was necessary. Before this latest case of Zika, the last time an Australian citizen came down with the disease was in the mid-summer of 2016.
Do you believe that Zika infection rates differ from country to country because populations of certain Zika-carrying mosquitoes differ in each country?
