MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said Friday that it had registered no new cases of the Zika virus in the country.
"At the moment, no cases of the importation of the Zika virus have been registered in Russia," the watchdog's press service told RIA Novosti.
15 February 2016, 12:09 GMT
Last week, Rospotrebnadzor said that the first case of the Zika virus had been registered in Russia. A Moscow woman contracted the virus while traveling in the Dominican Republic and was admitted to a hospital specializing in infectious diseases upon returning home, according to the watchdog.
The Zika virus is transmitted by daytime-active mosquitoes. It does not cause serious complications in adults, but is suspected of leading to severe brain defects and cases of microcephaly in newborns.
15 February 2016, 11:31 GMT
The current Zika outbreak originated in Brazil in the spring of 2015, before spreading across Latin America and gaining widespread media attention as confirmations of the first cases emerged in Europe and the United States in recent weeks.
