Family members of Zika case in city monitored

THE Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) continues to monitor family members of the 22-year-old pregnant woman who was earlier found positive for Zika virus in Cebu City.

This developed despite the results of the blood tests conducted by the DOH-7 on the woman showed that she was already cleared of the infection.

Dr. Van Phillip Baton, coordinator for Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Disease Program of DOH-7, said that they were still waiting for test results from the blood samples taken from the family members.

“The family members have been normal since the diagnosis,” Baton told Cebu Daily News in a text message yesterday.

When asked on the condition of the mother and the baby, Baton said that based on the ultrasound, both the patient and fetus are normal.

But Baton said that they would continue to monitor the baby’s condition because complications would manifest at a later period.

“We are not sure at what age the complication of the fetus will show,” Baton added.

The baby will be monitored through follow up ultrasound.

The 22-year-old pregnant woman in Cebu City is the first Zika case in the country where the victim is pregnant.

The case in Cebu City is among the 12 recorded cases of Zika in the Philippines. Other cases are from Iloilo City and Laguna province.

DOH has advised the public to go to the nearest health facility in case symptoms are felt which include fever, rash, and conjunctivitis, joint pain, muscle pain, headache, and vomiting that lasts from two to seven days.