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Second Queensland Zika case confirmed

A child has become the second person in Queensland to be infected with Zika as authorities around the world scramble to deal with the threat posed by the virus.

The child was diagnosed after presenting to a Brisbane hospital with symptoms following a family trip to Samoa.

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It is the second confirmed case within 24 hours, with a woman recovering from Zika on the Gold Coast after returning from El Salvador in Central America where the virus is spreading.

The woman first saw a GP in mid-December and was diagnosed as having a Flavivirus, which includes dengue, yellow fever and Zika.

However she became ill again and recently presented to a Gold Coast Hospital, which ran further tests that confirmed she had Zika.

“She has been discharged from hospital and there is no risk to her, her family or the general public from the virus,” a Queensland Health spokesman said on Saturday.

According to the The Courier Mail, authorities tracked the woman’s movements while infectious. There is no risk of the virus spreading to her family or others.

Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young said southeast Queensland wasn’t at risk of Zika, despite two cases being confirmed in the region.

This is because the virus is predominantly transmitted to humans through the bites of infectious Aedes mosquitoes, most commonly Aedes aegypti, the same species that transmits dengue in north Queensland.

The two people infected have not travelled to north Queensland.

“I’m very confident that the two people we’ve just confirmed in the last 24 hours are no risk to anyone,” Dr Young said on Saturday afternoon.

Health Minister Cameron Dick said he expected more Queenslanders would be infected with Zika.

“I expect that there will be more positive tests in Queensland – we need to be ready for that,” he said.

Queensland recorded three Zika cases last year, down from seven the previous year.

Mr Dick said all of those people were infected while overseas, and there was no known mosquitoes carrying the virus in north Queensland.

Most infected people have no symptoms or experience only a mild illness but the virus has been linked to microcephaly, a neurological disorder in which infants are born with undersized heads.

Brazil has reported nearly 4000 suspected cases of microcephaly.

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