International News

SINGAPORE, Aug 31, (APP/AFP) – Singapore urged all
pregnant women showing symptoms of fever or rashes to have themselves tested for the Zika virus Wednesday after the number of cases in the city-state soared to 82.
Environment agency workers stepped up efforts to eradicate mosquitoes that spread the disease, expanding a fumigation campaign centred on the “ground zero” of the outbreak, the eastern suburb of Aljunied.
As infections climbed, they blasted a district of warehouses and industrial buildings to destroy breeding sites that fuelled the outbreak, which began at a construction site housing foreign workers.
Zika, which has been detected in 58 countries including hardest-hit Brazil, causes only mild symptoms for most people, such as fever and a rash.
But in pregnant women, it can cause microcephaly, a deformation in which babies are born with abnormally small brains and heads.
The health ministry said that “all pregnant women in Singapore with
symptoms of Zika — fever and rash and other symptoms such as red eyes or joint pain” should be tested for infection.