Guinea-Bissau confirms three cases of Zika virus infections

Guinea-Bissau has confirmed its first three cases of Zika virus infections in a group of islands off the mainland.

“The Health Minister has informed (the government) of three confirmed cases of Zika virus contamination located in the Bijagos Archipelago” read a government statement sent to reporters. The statement however did not give the suspected origin of the three cases.

The government said an emergency committee has been set up to stop further transmission of the disease.

Prime Minister Baciro Dja is also to head a committee that will impose a series of measures that would contain the spread of the disease.

Guinea-Bissau becomes the second country after Cape Verde to record an outbreak of the mosquito-borne viral disease in Africa.

The World Health Organisation in May confirmed that the Zika strain in Cape Verde was the same as the one found in Brazil where more than 1,400 cases of microcephaly have been recorded in babies whose mothers were infected with the virus during pregnancy.

Only about 20 percent of Zika infected cases display symptoms, which are usually mild and include fever, joint pain and conjunctivitis.