A senior Myanmar health official has advised residents to delay plans for pregnancy after the country’s first case of the Zika virus was confirmed in Yangon this week.
Speaking at a press conference at the Ministry of Health and Sports on Thursday, Dr Soe Lwin Nyein, director of disease prevention, said women planning to have children should delay conception for at least six months.
“What I want to highlight is Yangon Region,” he said, according to 7 Day. “Those are planning to be pregnant, and staying in an area where a lot of tiger mosquitoes exist and dengue fever happens a lot, should not get pregnant within the next six months. Those who are already pregnant should be aware not to get bitten by tiger mosquitoes.”
The Aedes albopictus, also called the Asian tiger mosquito, is known to carry the Zika virus, which has been linked to the birth defect microcephaly. It is also a carrier of dengue fever, a sometimes deadly virus common in Southeast Asia.
A 32-year-old foreign woman, who is pregnant, was identified as Myanmar’s first Zika patient after tests this week.
