Associate Professor Supatra Thongrungkiat, at Mahidol University’s Department of Medical Entomology, revealed yesterday that in Thailand only small population of common house mosquitoes could transmit the Zika virus.

“The common house mosquito is a carrier for Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika virus. In theory, a mosquito can carry only one virus and from our study, it was found that Dengue was the prominent virus carried by mosquitoes in Thailand because there are far more patients infected with Dengue,” Supatra said.

“However, more studies are needed to confirm this theory,”

In late January, one case of Zika virus infection was identified at Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital. The Zika outbreaks in many countries in South America and the Caribbean prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a public health emergency on Monday.

According to the WHO, the people infected with Zika usually have a mild fever, skin rash and conjunctivitis. These symptoms were normally mild and last for 2-7 days. However, it has been observed in Brazil that the infection is linked with the babies born with microcephaly, but more researches are needed to confirm this connection.

Dr Yong Puworawan, head of Chulalongkorn University’s Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology, revealed that Zika can be transmitted via mosquito bite but also by sexual intercourse and breast feeding.

“The Zika virus is not as severe as Dengue, as the symptoms are milder, but it may cause the baby born by the infected mother to have a smaller head than normal and malfunctioning brain,” Yong said.

“It is just like rubella, which is not fatally disease but it can cause disablement in babies,”

Yesterday, Thailand’s Public Health Ministry urged people to alert the ministry of any suspicions concerning an appearance of the Zika virus to help bring patients under special surveillance.

Department of Disease Control chief Dr Amnuay Gajeena said a video conference would be held soon with epidemiologists working in Asean countries plus China, South Korea and Japan to exchange information on Zika prevention and control.

The disease monitor would focus on four at-risk groups: pregnant women, patients seen with rashes in the same area at the same period of time, infants born with unusually small heads, and people with suspicious nervous symptoms. Other measures, such as destroying the Aedes mosquitoes and setting up disease screening checkpoints at airports would also be carried out.