By: Sherrie Chen
China confirmed an imported case of Zika virus on Tuesday, February, announced by the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC).
The patient is a 34 year old man from Ganxian county of the eastern Jiangxi Province. He was traveling to Venezuela on January 28th and was about to return to Hong Kong on February 5th. He suddenly experienced fever, headache, and dizziness.
The Zika virus is usually spread through mosquito bites. Infected people will become carriers when they have symptoms.
For most, the symptoms  are mild such as fever, headache, rash and possibly pink eye. Since 80% of those infected never know they have the disease, most concerns come from pregnant women who could pass  this virus to their growing baby.
Also, there are virus transmission cases occur through labor, blood transfusion, laboratory exposure and sexual contact. However, it is still unknown that if Zika in breast milk can be passed to the baby through nursing or not.
Back to the case, the NHFPC said that considering the evaluation by public health officials and experts, along with the low temperature at present, the risk of further spreading of the virus due to this imported case is extremely rare.
Although Zika, unlike some other those viruses, has no vaccine to prevent infection or medicine to treat the infection, the patient has to be quarantined and treated in a hospital in Ganxian since Saturday, February 6th. Now, he is recovering with normal body temperature and a fading rash.
