TEHRAN — No cases of Zika virus have been reported in Iran so far, said the director of the Health Ministry’s Communicable Diseases Control Department.

Talking to IRNA news agency on Sunday, Mohammad Mehdi Gouya said that although Zika has not been detected in Iran and East Mediterranean district, the mosquito which transmits the virus is already present across the region.

Zika, the mosquito-borne virus is already present in 21 of the 55 countries and territories across the Americas, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement on January 23.

According to the WHO, about ten countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific have reported cases of Zika virus infection.

The virus is transmitted from [Aedes aegypti] mosquito but the human-to-human transmission is uncertain for now, Gouya noted adding that the most common symptoms of Zika virus are fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes.

Gouya explained that formerly the virus was discovered in some African countries but what most worries the world is the sudden outbreak of the virus in some Southern and Central American countries.

Changing its geographic distribution, it is not so far-fetched that the virus and its side effects spread to other parts of the world in the years to come, he cautioned.

The Zika is not a lethal virus but it is suspected to cause serious birth defects, he said, adding that, it is linked to microcephaly disease, in which babies born to women infected during pregnancy have abnormally small heads.

The connection between the virus and microcephaly disease is not certain yet, but it is of solid and strong grounds, he highlighted.

There is no sure prevention or treatment for the disease and it is crucial to conduct some in-depth researches to find its side effects and a cure or treatment for it, he suggested.

“We should not take Zika’s possible outbreak in the Middle East and East Mediterranean districts for granted,” he said.

MQ/MG