|
QUITO, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The number of Zika Virus cases has increased from 92 to 1,106 after the magnitude-7.8 earthquake occurred on the coast of Ecuador on April 16, according to a newly issued UNICEF report.
According to the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Zika cases increased more than twelvefold three months after the Ecuador earthquake, with 80 percent of the cases in the province of Manabi.
Women between 15 and 49 years of age are the worst affected by the virus, accounting for 509 cases in Manabi. There have been no Zika-related microcephaly cases in newborns so far.
"We need to urgently scale up the Zika preventative interventions to reduce its transmission and impact on children and their families" , said Grant Leaity, UNICEF Representative in Ecuador.
A week earlier, the Ministry of Public Health of Ecuador reported 857 Zika fever cases, 10,212 Dengue fever cases, and 1,274 Cikungunya cases countrywide, with the sharpest increase in the quake-hit areas.
The cases of the infectious diseases are registered in 21 of the 24 provinces in the country and the majority of cases have been found in the coastal provinces of Manabi, El Oro and Guayas.
Three people died of Dengue fever in Ecuador this year, while current cases do not display alarm signs, said the country's health ministry. Enditem
