By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

THERE is now one confirmed case of the Zika virus in the Bahamas, Health Minister Dr Perry Gomez announced yesterday.

Dr Gomez said the country’s first case of Zika was reported in a Bahamian man who recently travelled to Jamaica. Dr Gomez said the man’s symptoms included rash, fever, joint pains, and headache for which he sought medical care at a private medical facility.

Dr Gomez said a sample was taken for testing and sent to a reference laboratory. A confirmed positive result was received on Tuesday, August 9. The patient has been treated for associated symptoms and is recovering, Dr Gomez said.

The North Andros and Berry Islands MP said heightened surveillance activities continue by the Department of Environmental Health Services and that the required public health and environmental protocols continue to be conducted.

Subsequent to Dr Gomez’s announcement, the Ministry of Environment and Housing, in a statement, called on Bahamians to “unite to fight the bite” and do their part in mitigating against the reproduction of mosquitoes.

“We must unite to fight the bite at home, by taking every precaution to eliminate large pools of standing water from our neighbourhoods,” the ministry said. “By keeping yards, patios and the inside of our home free of standing water we significantly reduce mosquito breeding sites and the spread of Zika. The process is a simple one: tip over, turn down, throw out.”

“The Ministry of the Environment and Housing through the Department of Environmental Health Services continues to do its part, and all residents must do theirs. The only way to prevent the spread of Zika is to stop mosquitos from reproducing.”

Yesterday Dr Gomez urged residents to take the necessary precautionary measures to prevent being infected, which he said included applying mosquito repellants on exposed skin, wearing long-sleeved light coloured clothing, completely screening all doors and windows, and eliminating mosquito breeding sites such as items or containers that may collect water.

“To prevent sexual transmission, correct use of condoms at each encounter is advised,” he added. “Pregnant women and women planning to be pregnant should talk to their health care provider and pay particular attention to prevention measures.

“If you think you or your family member might have a Zika virus infection please visit your doctor or your nearest health care provider,” Dr Gomez said.

Tourism

Obie Wilchcombe, the minister of tourism, said the government is concerned about the Zika virus and how it may affect visitor arrivals, but said his team at the Ministry of Tourism will “intensify its communications to the various markets to ensure that the world is aware of how we are handling the situation” and that the Bahamas “is still a safe and healthy place” to visit.

“That would help them to make the decision to either consider the Bahamas, continue on the trip they planned to the Bahamas or come to the Bahamas at another time, but in all circumstances we have confidence in the Ministry of Health and we know that the Ministry of Health is doing what they must do in order to manage the situation and understanding all that is concerned,” Mr Wilchcombe said.

Yesterday’s announcement comes after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration issued a travel advisory connected to the global epidemic, warning Bahamian travellers of a scourge in cases in Brazil and the Wynwood area of Miami, Florida.

That advisory from the ministry came a week after US health agencies warned against travel to the Florida neighbourhood and months after warning against travel to Brazil.

In a comprehensive statement to the press, the ministry insisted that Bahamians travelling to both Miami and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the Summer Olympics take “appropriate precautions” to avoid being bitten by mosquitos.

The statement also urged that similar precautions be taken by travellers heading to the Turks and Caicos Islands.

According to health officials, Zika is a mosquito-borne disease and may also be sexually transmitted. The virus is transmitted primarily by the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same mosquito that transmits dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever viruses.

International health officials have long warned women who are pregnant or intend to get pregnant that they should guard against Zika. This is because of the confirmed association between infection in pregnancy and birth defects such as microcephaly.

The World Health Organization has advised that persons wait at least six months to try for a pregnancy if the male partner had symptoms of Zika.

Aside from the one confirmed case in the Bahamas, there have been five confirmed cases of the Zika virus in Turks and Caicos, 15 in Florida and an estimated 170,000 in Brazil to date.