853 pregnant women tested for Zika virus

JEDDAH — In response to the global Zika scare, the Ministry of Health tested 853 pregnant women in Jeddah in one month, while the Ministry of Agriculture has increased its efforts to combat the spread of mosquitoes that transmit the deadly virus. Assistant director of Health Affairs in Jeddah Dr. Khaled Bin Obaid Bawakd, said the ministry included Zika virus in its health eradication plan that follows the rainy season every year. “The ministry is intensifying awareness campaigns in cooperation with Jeddah Municipality, the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Water Company to warn the public of stagnant water to prevent the breeding of vectors that spread dengue fever and Zika viruses,” Bawakd said. He also explained that 45 health centers are monitoring any suspected cases through rapid laboratory diagnosis in the regional laboratory of the Ministry of Health. “In all, 853 pregnant women have been tested so far and all of them tested negative,” he added. Obstetrics and gynecology consultant Dr. Rifaat Mustafa said the most important symptoms for diagnosing a Zika infection in a pregnant woman include fever, nausea, headache, pain in the joints, inflammation in the eye, skin rashes and digestive disorders. “The danger of infection lies in complications in the nervous system that may cause a kind of paralysis in the end. The unborn baby of a pregnant woman infected with Zika might be exposed to deformation and may develop cerebral or developmental problems that could lead to death. The danger is when the pregnant women may not know until after the first trimester, when the fetus is highly prone to injury,” Mustafa said. The Ministry of Agriculture has intensified its efforts to combat mosquitoes that transmit the Zika virus outside the urban boundary with 11 precautionary procedures. The general supervisor of prevention in the Ministry's Agricultural Services, Ali Bin Saeed Al-Sarar, said the ministry is monitoring developments with regard to Zika in Africa and the Americas. “The Kingdom has not yet recorded any case of Zika infection, but should be careful and take the necessary measures to intensify anti-mosquito precautions in most regions of the Kingdom,” Al-Sarar said.