Woman, 2 kids test positive for Zika

SAN PEDRO CITY—A woman and her two children in Cavite province tested positive for the mosquito-borne Zika virus, health officials in Cavite province said on Wednesday.

Dr. Nelson Soriano, provincial epidemiologist, said the woman, 38, and her 12-year-old son were the first to show flu-like symptoms and underwent tests at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa City.

Since family members live in the same house, the woman’s other son, 8, was later subjected to examinations where he tested positive for the virus.

The three did not have a history of travel abroad.

Soriano said the mother and her children have been put in isolation in their house during the two-week infective stage.

He said Zika, which is transmitted through the bite of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same species responsible for dengue and chikungunya, is feared to cause hydrocephaly on children born by infected mothers.

But otherwise, “it is not life threatening,” Soriano said.

“Our directive to households is to clean unused containers and their surroundings. The only way to fight this is through a… concerted approach,” he said. —MARICAR CINCO