Zika virus case confirmed in Thailand

A man who had been hospitalized in Bangkok was found to have the virus on Jan. 24. He left the hospital after recovering two days later.
According to an official from the hospital, the patient had not traveled abroad before becoming infected.
The president of the hospital said that the patient represented the first case of Zika seen recently at the hospital, but added it was not the first case in Thailand.
They official added that the virus will not have been transferred to other people, as this would have needed the patient to have been suffering from associated fever.
Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry gave instructions urging people to report any suspected cases of Zika virus, declaring it an epidemic disease in accordance with Thailand's 1980 Epidemic Disease Act, even though the mosquito-borne virus does not tend to cause severe symptoms leading to death.
It is, instead, associated with cases of microcephaly, which leads to babies being born with underdeveloped brains and abnormally small heads.
Thailand's action follows the World Health Organization's declaration of the Zika virus as a global public health emergency on Feb. 1, in a bid to promote prevention worldwide.
The virus has become extremely prevalent in Latin America in recent weeks, with measures being taken there to combat it.
Thailand's public health officer warned people not to panic, saying that Thailand is not a place where the virus will easily spread, and that around five people are infected each year.
The most common symptoms of Zika virus infection are mild fever and skin rash, usually accompanied by muscle or joint pain, and general malaise that begins two to seven days after a bite from an infected mosquito.
Generally, people infected with the virus will recover within two to seven days.