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Zika virus outbreak in Western Hemisphere

As of today, the virus has penetrated 21 out of 55 countries of the Western Hemisphere

Photo {{sliderIndex+1}} from 10

Public health workers participate in a day of fumigation to stop spread of the 'Aedes aegypti' in Caracas, Venezuela, 28 January 2016

© EPA/MIGUEL GUTIERREZ

A doctor showing a jar with larvas of the mosquito Aedes Aegypti, that transmit the Zika virus, the Dengue and the Chikunguna, at a laboratory in San Jose, Costa Rica. Costa Rican Ministry of Health announced measures to intensify the surveilance to prevent a possible spread of the Zika virus to the country

© EPA/Jeffrey Arguedas

Colombia's Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria explaining the symptoms of Zika during an event to launch a nationwide prevention campaign against the virus in Ibague, Colombia

© AP Photo/Fernando Vergara

A health worker fumigating to prevent Dengue, Chikunguya and Zika virus, at El Angel cemetery, in Lima, Peru

© AP Photo/Martin Mejia

Pregnant women are warned to avoid travel to Latin American countries where the mosquito-borne virus is multiplying. Photo: Woman with a baby born with microcephaly in Recife, Brazil

© AP Photo/Felipe Dana

Explaination of possible health complications associated with the Zika virus during an event to launch a nationwide prevention campaign in Colombia

© AP Photo/Fernando Vergara

A municipal worker spraying insecticide to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes at the Imbiribeira neighborhood in Recife, Brazil

© AP Photo/Felipe Dana

Health workers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

© AP Photo/Leo Correa

An old woman seen while city workers fumigate her home to combat the Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes at the San Judas Community in San Salvador, El Salvador

© AP Photo/Salvador Melendez

A municipal worker seen during an operation to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Recife, Brazil

© AP Photo/Felipe Dana

The Zika virus was first isolated in 1947 in the Zika Forest of Uganda. Last May, when the virus started rapidly spreading in Brazil and then spread to other countries of South and North America, it became a topic for wider discussion. As of today, the virus has penetrated 21 out of 55 countries of the Western Hemisphere. The virus causes high temperature, pink eye, headaches and malaise, joint pains, sometimes nausea and stomach pains and upset. Zika is transmitted by mosquitoes and has been isolated in particular from Aedes aegypti. There also are data that the virus may be transmitted from human to human during unprotected sexual contacts. The special concern of specialists is caused by data that if a woman gets infected with the virus during pregnancy, the child may have microcephaly.

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TASS compiled main facts about the situation in the country

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The conversation took place at the initiative of the German side

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