Suriname - first cases of the Zika virus confirmed by the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana

The laboratory at the Academic Hospital Paramaribo detected the Zika virus in some of its patients for the first time last week. These results were soon confirmed by the Virology Laboratory at the Institut Pasteur in French Guiana, a National Reference Center for Arboviruses for the Antilles–French Guiana region.

The Zika virus, which causes fever and a skin rash, is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito – the same mosquito that transmits the dengue and chikungunya viruses. The first cases of the Zika virus in the Americas were confirmed in April. It is thought to have arrived during the Football World Cup in the Bahia region of Brazil, which has a large population of insect vectors. The virus then probably spread to the other Brazilian states.

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