Bangladesh issues Zika advisory for its nationals in Singapore

Bangladesh’s high commission in Singapore has issued an advisory for its nationals living in the city state and urged them to take precautionary measures.

The high commissioner has also urged them to take appropriate precautions to prevent mosquito breeding as vector control is critical in preventing transmission and reducing the risk of the virus.

The advisory followed the Singapore Ministry of Health’s report that they found 10 Bangladesh nationals among the Zika-infected people in the country until Sep 1.

Their names and identities have not been disclosed by the authorities for the sake of “privacy”.

The ministry, however, notified that the affected Bangladeshis had “very mild symptoms and most of them either have recovered or are recovering”.

The high commission said they were in “close touch” with the ministry and other relevant government agencies in Singapore and monitoring the situation closely.

Officials from the high commission have visited a number of dormitories where many Bangladeshi workers live.

They are maintaining close contact with the owners and management of those dormitories to get constant updates about possible cases of infection involving Bangladeshi nationals.

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 115 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 has also started airport screening for the passengers coming from Singapore, the health minister has said.

The Aedes Aegypti mosquito that causes Zika also causes dengue fever which is prevalent in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh identified a case of Zika 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 does not spread person to person through respiratory droplets such as breathing, coughing, sneezing.