Haiti is at Extreme Risk of Zika Spread: CDC Deputy Director

The United States is helping the deeply impoverished Caribbean nation, Haiti to prepare for Zika outbreak as there is extreme concern for its spread across the country, said a top US health official.

There was "extreme concern of Haiti in //terms of impact that dengue has there, and of course, the vulnerable population is a challenge," said Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control.

Haiti Hit By an Outbreak of the Zika Virus
A health lab in Trinidad and Tobago confirmed on Thursday that five out of 11 Haitian blood samples tested positive for Zika virus, a mosquito-borne ailment.

‘Anne Schuchat, deputy director of CDC, said that Haiti, a dengue-epidemic nation with a higher mosquito population must be prepared to tackle the Zika outbreak as it has reported its first Zika case.’

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Schuchat spoke while in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia studying an outbreak of the Zika virus, which is widely believed to cause microcephaly, a serious birth defect, in babies born to infected women.

The virus is transmitted by the same mosquito responsible for carrying dengue, a far more common disease.

The US expert said that with the northern hemisphere summer approaching, a rise in mosquito numbers is expected and Haiti, which confirmed its first cases of Zika in January, needs to prepare.

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While Zika itself typically involves mild, flu-like symptoms, global anxiety has been driven by the likely link to microcephaly and Guillan-Barre.

The "CDC has a very strong partnership in Haiti and we are already working on how to help them be ready for this," she told AFP.

"We are concerned about many countries. Certainly in Colombia they have seen a rapid increase in Zika cases. In the US we are working very closely with Puerto Rico and we are very concerned about the months ahead," she said.

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The impact of the mosquito-borne Zika virus will be modest, if $3.5 billion, or 0.06 percentage points is taken off of gross domestic output (GDP) for the affected region this year.

Most people who get Zika suffer no serious symptoms, but pregnant women are considered to be at risk and have been advised by numerous governments not to travel to Zika-prone countries.

Brazil said this week that it has registered 508 cases of microcephaly since October, a huge increase on the average annual number of 150.

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With 113 people dead this year alone, and 11,721 new cases in Haiti, people fear that with the start of the rainy season in June, the number of cases will soar.

Source-AFP