Intensified mosquito control in China’s 1st Zika virus patient

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NANCHANG, CHINA – Mosquito control efforts have been intensified in Ganxian county of east China’s Jiangxi Province, where the country’s first patient of imported Zika virus is recovering.

According to local health authorities, epidemic prevention workers have carried out mosquito larvae inspection and sprayed pesticides in and around the hospital and the patient’s house.

Further measures in a larger area are under way.

Experts have also been dispatched by the provincial government to the county to direct medical treatment and epidemic prevention, local sources said.

China detected the first case of Zika virus infection on Tuesday.

The patient, a 34-year-old male, had shown symptoms of fever, headache and dizziness on Jan.

28 in Venezuela, before returning to his hometown on Feb. 5 via Hong Kong and Shenzhen. He has been treated in a hospital in Ganxian since Feb. 6.

Symptoms of Zika virus infection, which spreads through mosquito bites, include fever, joint pain, rash, conjunctivitis, headache, muscle pain and eye pain.