TWO more people in Iloilo who are living in the same household have tested positive for the Zika virus, Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial said Tuesday.
She said except for mild skin rashes, the two new cases were not accompanied by other signs and symptoms unlike the first confirmed case.
The first confirmed case was a 45-year-old woman, also from Iloilo, who developed skin rashes, joint pains and red eyes.
Ubial said that case was most likely due to local transmission since there had been no history of travel to any affected country in the past two weeks.
“On August 31, she presented with skin rash and joint pains not accompanied by fever,” Ubial said.
“She was confined in a local hospital where urine and blood were collected. She was subsequently discharged the following day. She tested positive for both specimens.”
Ubial said all three had since recovered from their mild illness and did not require hospitalization. And it was fortunate that none of them was pregnant.
The Zika virus is non-fatal to the general population, but it can pose dangers to a baby in the womb. An infection during pregnancy can result in a baby with a small head”•a condition called microcephaly”•and other brain defects.
Ubial said her department will implement a continuous monitoring of suspected cases for another month to determine the extent of local transmission in the country.
She said 88 households had been visited near and around the residence of the confirmed cases.
Most of the containers identified as mosquito breeding sites in the area were positive for the larvae or pupae of the Aedes aegypti, the principal mosquito vector for the Zika virus.