Bangladesh heightens airport screening following Singapore Zika outbreak

The government has strengthened airport screening for the passengers coming from Singapore following Zika virus outbreak in the city state.

Health Minister Mohammed Nasim on Thursday said they had already asked the authorities to strictly screen incoming passengers from Singapore.

“Our director general for health has visited (Shahjalal International Airport) and seen the screening process,” the minister said speaking at a seminar in Dhaka.

His comment followed Singapore Ministry of Health’s report that they found 10 Bangladesh nationals among the Zika-infected people in the country.

Following the global Zika outbreak, the health department earlier this year had set up a special device that records temperature of passengers when they pass through the archways.

The mosquito-borne infection is a cause of global concern for its link with microcephaly in which a baby is born with a small head.

Singapore recently reported the outbreak.

But with about 130 cases, the situation is worsening fast, according to the US Centre for Disease Control that added the city state to its list of Zika-affected countries that pregnant women should avoid.

Bangladesh High Commissioner in Singapore Mahmud Uz Zaman told bdnews24.com that due to patients’ confidentiality requirements, the Ministry of Health was not divulging further information about the ZIke-infected patients.

He said he had requested access and was in touch with them.

The Aedes Aegypti mosquito that causes Zika also causes dengue fever.

Bangladesh identified a case in March while re-testing the old blood samples collected for dengue amid global concerns. However, the patient had recuperated much earlier.

The Zika virus was first discovered in Uganda in 1947. The most common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis.

The illness is usually mild with the symptoms lasting a week. In 80 percent of the cases, symptoms do not appear. There is no vaccine for the disease.

The disease also does not spread person to person through respiratory droplets.