Zika detected in Europeans returning from South America

Denmark and Switzerland on Wednesday joined a growing number of European countries to report Zika infections among travellers returning from Latin America, where the mosquito-borne virus has been blamed for a surge in birth defects.

“A Danish tourist who travelled to Central and South America was diagnosed on his return with the Zika virus,” a hospital in eastern Denmark said in a statement late Tuesday.

The Danish patient was a young man who was expected to make a full recovery, the head of Aarhus hospital, Lars Ostergaard, told public broadcaster DR.

Two people returning to Switzerland from Haiti and Colombia were also diagnosed with the virus, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health said.

Neither was pregnant and neither required hospital care, the statement said.

Health watchdogs in a string of European countries meanwhile said they had recorded Zika cases dating back to as early as March 2015.

The Netherlands confirmed 10 cases and Britain five, all among people returning from South America.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama called for faster research on the quick-moving Zika virus, which is spread by mosquitoes and has been linked to a rise in birth defects in Brazil.

Mr Obama on Tuesday urged better diagnostic tests and the development of vaccines and treatments against the virus, which the World Health Organisation has said is likely to spread throughout the Americas.

As of now, there is no vaccine or medicine to treat Zika virus, and no way to prevent it other than by trying to avoid mosquito bites.

Mr Obama was briefed on the situation by top science experts in the US government, including the US Centres for Disease Control.