MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. More than 190,000 people across the world are infected with Zika fever virus, Russia’s consumer rights watchdog service said on Monday.
"The difference should be noted between the registered and real morbidity, as the majority of cases have no symptoms," the agency said, adding that a total of 191,700 got the virus and above 4,600 cases were laboratory-confirmed.
The most difficult epidemiological situation is in Brazil where a total of 6,671 microcephaly cases were registered, the death toll reached 198.
Zika virus was isolated in 1947 in the Zika forest of Uganda. Last May, it began to spread rapidly in Brazil, then gaining ground in other countries of South and North America. Health officials report the virus penetrating 21 of 55 countries across the western hemisphere.
Only one case of Zika virus has been registered in Russia.
Medical professionals note special concern for infected pregnant women, whose children risk developing brain-damaging microcephaly.