Experts have feared the tiny nation could become a gateway for Zika’s spread to mainland West Africa, after an outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus was first recorded in the African island chain of Cape Verde late last year.
“The Health Minister has informed (the government) of three confirmed cases of Zika virus contamination located in the Bijagos Archipelago,” read a government statement sent to reporters.
Zika is spreading through the Caribbean and Latin America. Only about 20 percent of infected cases display symptoms, which are usually mild and include fever, joint pain and conjunctivitis.
But the CDC says it can be spread from pregnant women to fetuses and has been linked to a birth defect called microcephaly, in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and sometimes brain damage.
Guinea-Bissau’s government said it was establishing a committee headed by Prime Minister Baciro Dja that would impose a series of measures aimed at containing the disease.
The statement did not give the suspected origin of the three cases.
The World Health Organisation confirmed in May that Cape Verde’s Zika strain was the same one found in Brazil, where more than 1,400 cases of microcephaly have been recorded in babies whose mothers were infected with the virus during pregnancy.
Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, has suggested that the country needs to rethink…
Kemi Badenoch, the former British Business Secretary, has been elected as the new leader of…
American rapper, Lil Uzi Vert has donated over $10,000 to help Twitch streamer, Kai Cenat…
Oladotun Olakanle, Chairman of the Onigbongbo Local Council Development Area, passed away in the early…
Beiersdorf Nivea Consumer Products Nig. Ltd has reassured customers of its products' safety after an…
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun claims the fainting of minors in an…