THE number of locally transmitted Zika cases in Metro Manila rose to three after two more cases”•one each in Makati and Mandaluyong”•were reported, the Department of Health said Friday.
The new cases brought the total number of Zika cases nationwide to 17, Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial said.
She said the patients were both female. The one from Makati was a 42 and the one from Mandaluyong 27.
Both exhibited the usual Zika symptoms like rashes and fever, red eyes, but they were not brought to hospital and had since recovered.
The World Health Organization said there was a possibility "of endemicity of this virus in the Western Pacific regions."
“It is different from the virus that was discovered in South Africa, the African region as well as South America. It is presumed to be endemic in the Western Pacific region,” Ubial said.
She said they were investigating if this strain was likely present in the Philippines even before the outbreaks in Singapore and South America.
“We’re still trying to confirm if this particular virus was already circulating in the Philippines, but we have not tested for it before. It was only tested when the outbreak in Africa and South America was reported globally,” Ubial said.
Zika, which resembles a light case of the flu, is transmitted by the aedes or tiger mosquitoes.
The disease is usually not life-threatening but has been linked to a rise in birth defects in other countries, where hundreds of babies have been born with unusually small heads.
The birth defects caused by the Zika virus are microcephaly and other brain deformities in newborns.