No outbreak of zika virus in Bali according to health ministry

balinews

Health Ministry has denied the information about the spread of Zika virus in Bali following the appeal of Australia through website http: //smartraveller.gov.au/ as at June 17, 2016 informing that Zika virus is currently spread in Indonesia, especially Bali. Official at the Ministry Oscar Primadi said Indonesia is not endemic. "Indonesia is also not an infected area," Oscar said on Saturday (18/6). Oscar added that to date there is only one Zika case in Indonesia that attacks a citizen of Edinburgh in 2015. "It was confirmed by a test conducted at laboratory Eijkman," he said. According to him, from the laboratory report done by Biomedical Research and Development of the Health Ministry, there is currently no citizen declared to be affected by Zika virus. In the meantime, as for a resident from Blitar known to be affected Zika virus upon arrival from Taiwan, Oscar says it is still being traced because the results of research done in Blitar shows negative results. Health Ministry Denies Zika Virus Outbreak in Bali | National | Tempo.Co :: Indonesian News Portal

JohnnyCool

There's no outbreak of Zika virus in Bali...yet, (and as far as we know). Zika can be easily confused with Dengue Fever (and a few others). Diagnosing it can be problematic given the resources available to doctors here, and medical standards. Zika was first detected in 1947 in Uganda. There have been several cases recently in Indonesia (Jambi/Sumatra, Solo and New Guinea), including people who haven't traveled anywhere overseas. As far as Bali is concerned, of course officials would want to down-play broadcasting its presence (if it's here) to potential foreign visitors. Even so, the only ways to avoid getting it are either avoid getting bitten by an infected mosquito, or not coming at all. Cases of Dengue in parts of Bali are double what they were last year. The "war" on rabies continues unabated, since the officials took over.