No sign yet of Zika virus in Cambodia

Cambodia has been monitoring the situation for Zika virus very closely, though the country has not seen any case of the virus so far, the health ministry said on Friday.

At present, there is no case of Zika virus in Cambodia, and the ministry is watching the situation very closely, Xinhua cited the statement as saying, adding that the risk of the virus coming into Cambodia remained low.

According to the statement, Cambodia found a Zika case in 2010, but the patient had recovered and since then, no such case was reported.

Symptoms of Zika, which is transmitted through Aedes species mosquitoes, usually include fever, headache, rash, red eyes, and joint pain, it said.

Most of the patients recover within two to seven days, as the fatality rate is very low, it added.

However, if the virus is transmitted to pregnant women, it can lead to the death of babies in the wombs, or babies' heads are abnormally small, it said.

Currently, there is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat the disease.

"To prevent from Zika infection, people should protect themselves from being bitten by Aedes mosquitoes," Health Minister Mam Bunheng said, urging people to visit doctors when they have symptoms as mentioned above.

Zika virus was first isolated from a monkey in the Zika forest in Uganda in 1947. In 2015, the mosquito-borne virus was detected in the US with Brazil reporting its first case in May 2015.