China reports 1st case of imported Zika virus

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to be tested for various diseases perch inside a container at the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory in Panama City, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016. Panamanian authorities announced on Monday that 50 cases of the Zika virus infection have been detected in Panama’s sparsely populated Guna Yala indigenous area along the Caribbean coast. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is vector for the spread of the Zika virus. AP Photo

BEIJING— China has reported its first case of the Zika virus in a man who recently traveled to Venezuela.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission says the 34-year-old man from the southern city of Ganzhou had been treated in Venezuela on Jan. 28 before returning home on Feb. 5 via Hong Kong and the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

READ: Asian countries urge sick travelers to report Zika symptoms

The commission said the man was confirmed as having the Zika virus on Tuesday, but his temperature was now normal and a skin rash was receding.

It said the virus is highly unlikely to spread in China due to low winter temperatures and a lack of mosquito activity, the primary avenue by which Zika spreads.

READ: Asia on Zika alert as health officials set up preventive measures

Zika infection in pregnant women has been suspected for causing a rare birth defect.

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