BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand is investigating four suspected cases of Zika-related microcephaly in three babies and a 36-week old unborn baby, the public health minister said on Tuesday, in what could be the first cases of Zika-linked microcephaly in Southeast Asia.

A city worker fumigates the area to control the spread of mosquitoes at a university in Bangkok, Thailand, September 13, 2016. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

Several countries in Southeast Asia have reported increasing cases of infection from the mosquito-borne Zika virus but Thailand has one of the highest numbers in the region, with 349 confirmed since January, including 25 pregnant women.

Public Health Minister Piyasakon Sakolsatayadorn said authorities needed to be thorough in their investigation of the cases as confirmation would be “sensitive”.

“The lab results will take at least two days because we have to be thorough with this as it is a big deal and a link hasn’t been detected before,” Piyasakon told Reuters.

“This is a sensitive matter for Thailand,” he said.

U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies.

Piyasakon said the three babies were born with small heads and an ultrasound appeared to indicate the unborn baby had a small head.

Of the four mothers, two were diagnosed with Zika when they were pregnant but two were not confirmed to have had Zika, said Apichai Mongkol, director-general of the ministry’s Department of Medical Sciences.

If a Thai case were confirmed, it would be the first in Southeast Asia, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last year in Brazil, which has confirmed more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infections in the mothers.

MONITORING

Some health experts have accused Thailand, which has a thriving tourist industry, of playing down the risk from Zika.

But officials dismiss that saying the response has been adequate and another mosquito-born disease, dengue, which can be deadly, is a bigger threat.

The director-general of Thailand’s Disease Control Department, Amnuay Gajeena, said the four cases were being monitored but he declined to say exactly where they were suspected of contracting the virus.

“It is not in Bangkok,” Amnuay told Reuters. “Both the mothers and babies are being tested and we have sent the tests to several labs.”

There are no specific tests to determine if a baby will be born with microcephaly, but ultrasound scans in the third trimester of pregnancy can identify the problem, according to the WHO.

The World Health Organization lists Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam as countries reporting new cases of Zika.

Singapore has recorded 393 cases since diagnosing its first in August. It has confirmed 16 pregnant women with the virus.

The WHO has also said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.

According to the WHO, there are two major lineages of Zika - an African lineage, which has only been reported in Africa, where the virus was first discovered in 1947, and an Asian lineage of strains.

There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes. An estimated 80 percent of people infected have no symptoms, making it difficult for pregnant women to know whether they have been infected. </s> BANGKOK, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Thailand has recorded about 200 cases of Zika since January, the health ministry said on Tuesday, making it a country with one of the highest numbers of confirmed cases in the region.

It was the first time Thailand's health ministry has confirmed the number of Zika cases this year.

The announcement comes a day after health experts called on Thailand to be more transparent in reporting the Zika threat to the public after health officials played down risks from rising infections of the mosquito-borne virus.

Health officials have expressed concern that disclosing information on Zika, which is linked to serious birth defects, would damage Thailand's lucrative tourism industry.

"Since January, we have recorded about 200 cases and over the past three weeks, we have confirmed an average of 20 new cases per week," Ministry of Public Health spokesman Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai told Reuters.

"The number of cases is stable," he said, without giving further details.

Island city-state Singapore reported its first locally infected Zika patient on Aug. 27 and since then, the number of reported infections has soared to more than 300.

Malaysia and the Philippines have also reported cases.

The virus, which is affecting large parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, has been circulating in Asia for years.

The lineage of the virus circulating in Asia is different to the one in the Americas, researchers say. The level of population immunity to the lineage of Zika in Asia remains unknown, according to the World Health Organization.

Suwannachai urged the public not to panic and reiterated a message aimed at reassuring tourists.

"People shouldn't be scared to visit provinces affected by the Zika virus," Suwannachai said.

Zika infections in pregnant women have been shown to cause microcephaly - a severe birth defect in which the head and brain are undersized - as well as other brain abnormalities.

The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last year in Brazil, which has since confirmed more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly.

Thailand has found no cases of microcephaly linked to Zika and it is monitoring about two dozen pregnant woman and about six who have given birth with no complications, the health ministry said.

In adults, Zika infections have also been linked to a rare neurological syndrome known as Guillain-Barre, as well as other neurological disorders.

The virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947. </s> Zika: Vietnamese authorities report first microcephaly case likely linked to mosquito-borne virus

Updated

Vietnam's Health Ministry has reported a microcephaly case that it says is likely to be the country's first linked to the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

The case, a four-month old baby whose mother was diagnosed with Zika when she was pregnant, was found in the central province of Dak Lak.

"This is a microcephaly case with a high probability of being related to the Zika virus and also the first such case in Vietnam," the General Department of Preventive Medicine, a department of the nation's health ministry, said in a statement posted on its official website.

Vietnam so far has reported a total of nine cases of Zika infection, with more cases expected to be confirmed in the next few days, the department's director Tran Dac Phu said.

If the microcephaly case is confirmed to be linked to Zika, Vietnam would become the second South-East Asian country after Thailand to report such a case.

Vietnam earlier this month raised the threat level for Zika and stepped up monitoring of pregnant women in the country after detecting more cases and amid growing outbreaks in the region.

Zika infections in pregnant women have been shown to cause microcephaly — a severe birth defect in which the head and brain are undersized — as well as other brain abnormalities.

The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light in Brazil, which has confirmed more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly.

In adults, Zika infections have also been linked to a rare neurological syndrome known as Guillain-Barre, as well as other neurological disorders.

Reuters

Topics: infectious-diseases-other, diseases-and-disorders, vietnam, asia

First posted </s> HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam has reported its first case of microcephaly likely linked to the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

The 4-month-old girl with an abnormally small head was born in central Vietnam to a mother confirmed to have had the virus when she was pregnant.

The Ministry of Health’s General Department of Preventive Medicine said on its website Sunday that the case had a “high probability of being linked to Zika virus and also the first in Vietnam.”

If confirmed, Vietnam would be the second country in Southeast Asia after Thailand to have microcephaly case linked to Zika.

The virus generally causes a mild flu-like illness, but a major outbreak in Brazil last year revealed that it can result in severe birth defects when pregnant women are infected.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Microcephaly is a rare birth defect that has been linked, in Brazil in particular, to the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which is spreading in Southeast Asia.

Thai health authorities said on Tuesday they were investigating four suspected cases of Zika-related microcephaly in three babies and a 36-week old unborn baby.

But on Wednesday, Apichai Mongkol, director-general of the ministry's Department of Medical Sciences, said Zika had been ruled out as the cause in two of the cases.

"The test results showed that two did not have the Zika virus but it is still unclear with the other two because we found three flavivirus which means it could be dengue, Zika or meningitis," Apichai told Reuters.

"To be sure which of the three they contracted we need to investigate further."

There are no specific tests to determine if a baby will be born with microcephaly but ultrasound scans in the third trimester of pregnancy can identify the problem, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

It was not clear which of the four cases had been ruled out as having a link to Zika.

Zika has been linked to more than 1,800 confirmed cases of microcephaly in Brazil but there have been no confirmed cases of Zika causing the condition in Southeast Asia, according to the WHO.

Microcephaly has several potential causes including various infections, exposure to toxins and malnutrition, the WHO says.

Health authorities in Southeast Asia have reported a rising number of Zika cases with Thailand confirming 349 since January, including 33 pregnant women. Singapore has recorded 393, including 16 pregnant women.

The Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam have also reported Zika cases.

Thailand's public health ministry said earlier the four suspected microcephaly cases were not in Bangkok but it declined to say where they were found.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority said on Wednesday officials had confirmed 26 Zika cases in the city this month.

The director-general of the Disease Control Department, Amnuay Gajeena, said out of 33 cases of pregnant women with Zika, eight had given birth without complications.

There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika. An estimated 80 percent of people infected have no symptoms, making it difficult for pregnant women to know whether they have been infected.

Zika was first identified in Uganda in 1947 and was first isolated in Asia in the 1960s. It was unknown in the Americas until 2014. </s> The case, a four-month old baby whose mother was diagnosed with Zika when she was pregnant, was found in the central province of Dak Lak.

"This is a microcephaly case with a high probability of being related to the Zika virus and also the first such case in Vietnam," the General Department of Preventive Medicine, a department of the nation's health ministry, said in a statement posted on its official website.

Vietnam so far has reported a total nine cases of Zika infection, with more cases expected to be confirmed in the next few days, the department's director Tran Dac Phu told Reuters on Sunday.

If the microcephaly case is confirmed to be linked to Zika, Vietnam would become the second Southeast Asian country after Thailand to report such a case.

Vietnam earlier this month raised the threat level for Zika and stepped up monitoring of pregnant women in the country after detecting more cases and amid growing outbreaks in the region.

Zika infections in pregnant women have been shown to cause microcephaly - a severe birth defect in which the head and brain are undersized - as well as other brain abnormalities.

The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light in Brazil, which has confirmed more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly.

In adults, Zika infections have also been linked to a rare neurological syndrome known as Guillain-Barre, as well as other neurological disorders. </s> The Ministry of Public Health confirms there are four infants with microcephaly in Thailand but lab tests show that the birth defects of two of the infants are not caused by the Zika virus.

Minister of Public Health M.D. Piyaskol Sakolsattayathon said the ministry was still waiting for the lab results for the other two babies. One of them has yet to be born but an ultrasound scan found that it has microcephaly, said the minister. The other one was born with an unusually small head but it was still unconfirmed whether the infant’s microcephaly was caused by the virus, he added.

On 30 September, the ministry will invite obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and virology experts to discuss measures to protect pregnant women from the Zika disease.

From 17-23 September there were 35 confirmed new Zika patients. All of them were found in provinces where a Zika infection had already been reported. </s> HANOI: The Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health on Sunday confirmed Vietnam’s first microcephaly case likely related to the Zika virus.

Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reports that the link to the virus was confirmed by laboratory tests, said health officials.

The first suspected case of the Zika-linked brain defect syndrome microcephaly was reported on October 14 in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak. It affected a four-month-old baby whose mother was affected by the virus when she was pregnant.

The local hospital took samples from the baby girl and her mother and sent them to Japan’s Nagasaki University for further tests.

The National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology found after at least five rounds of tests that the 23-year-old mother experienced Zika-like symptoms such as rash and high fever during the first and second trimesters of her pregnancy.

The Preventive Medicine Department has warned pregnant women to cancel non-essential travel to areas where the Zika virus is prevalent.

The disease is spread primarily by mosquitoes and the Health Ministry is urging people, particularly pregnant women, to take measures to prevent mosquito bites.

A total of 11 Zika virus cases has been confirmed in the country so far, including that four-month-old baby in Dak Lak, according to the Health Ministry. – Bernama </s> Malaysia on Wednesday confirmed its first case of the Zika virus in a pregnant woman, a 27-year-old living in a southern city next to the city-state of Singapore.

 Zika infections in pregnant women have been shown to cause microcephaly, a severe birth defect in which the head and brain are undersized, besides other brain abnormalities.

 Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam said the woman, who is three- to four-months pregnant, lives in the southern city of Johor Bahru, next to Singapore which has reported a total of 275 cases so far.

 Her husband, who works in Singapore, had also showed symptoms of Zika and was undergoing tests.

 ‘It’s still unclear whether the woman contracted the disease from her husband or whether it was locally transmitted,’ Subramaniam told a press conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia’s administrative capital.

 Last week, Malaysia confirmed the first imported case of Zika in a 58-year-old woman who had visited Singapore. On Saturday, it confirmed the first case of a locally transmitted Zika infection.

 Subramaniam said Malaysia was expecting to see more cases in Johor Bahru because of its closeness to Singapore. About 200,000 Malaysians commute daily from Johor to the city-state.

 Although microcephaly is typically detected during ultrasounds in the late second and early third trimester of pregnancy, these findings can be detected as early as 18-20 weeks gestation, according to the US centers for disease control and prevention.
Thailand authorities investigate what could be the first cases of Zika virus-linked microcephaly in Southeast Asia.