The World Health Organisation (WHO)’s International Health Regulations (IHR) agency informed Vietnam’s national agency for IHR implementation about the case, said the Vietnamese Ministry of Health’s Department of Preventive Medicine.
The Australian visitor stayed in Vietnam from February 26 to March 6 and travelled to Ho Chi Minh City, Lam Dong, Khanh Hoa and Binh Thuan provinces during that time. After returning to Australia, the person showed some symptoms of Zika infection such as fever, rash, headache, muscle pain, conjunctivitis and nausea.
The Vietnamese IHR agency and the Health Ministry’s emergency operations centre contacted the WHO agency and Australia IHR to ask for more detailed information about the Zika-positive person’s activities in Vietnam.
The health ministry does not exclude the possibility that the Australian contracted the virus before arriving in or after leaving Vietnam. The Preventive Medicine Department noted shortly after receiving the WHO agency’s notification, the ministry sent staff to Khanh Hoa and Binh Thuan to make verification and instruct tightening Zika prevention measures.
