China reports first case of imported Zika virus

CHINA’S first case of the Zika virus has been found in a 34-year-old man who recently traveled to Venezuela and is now making a speedy recovery, the government said yesterday.

The man from the southern city of Ganzhou had been treated in Venezuela on January 28 before returning home on February 5 via Hong Kong and the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said in a statement.

According to AP, the commission said he had been confirmed as having the Zika virus on Tuesday and was being treated at the Ganxian People’s Hospital. His temperature is now normal and a skin rash is receding, it said.

The commission said the chances of the virus spreading in China were “extremely low” due to cold winter temperatures and a lack of mosquito activity, the primary avenue by which Zika is transmitted.

The Zika virus is spreading rapidly through Latin America. Most people who contract it have either mild or no symptoms, but it is suspected of causing a birth defect in which babies are born with abnormally small heads.