Boudiaf: “Certain foreign laboratories spread malicious rumors of Zika virus in Algeria”

The Minister of Health, Population and Hospital Reform, Abdelmalek Boudiaf, has accused foreign and Algerian laboratories alike of being behind the baseless rumors alleging the presence of the “Zika Virus” in Algeria.

All this malicious “propaganda” is misleading for the sole purpose of selling their drugs and vaccines, he stressed.

In addition, the Ministry of Health has taken the lead by taking preventive measures at air, sea and land border crossings and ordered the setting up of an early warning and response health action plan so as to face up to potentially epidemic threats and health emergencies of an international scope.

Mr Boudiaf added that these ill-intentioned laboratories want to create confusion and panic by all means within the population, especially among pregnant women.

This has become a recurrent practice on the part of these laboratories which spread mendacious rumors every season to sell maximum drugs and vaccines in order to garner more profit.

The health Minister categorically denied the occurrence of any clinical cases spawned by the virus, noting that the threat is almost non-existent in Algeria itself as the main vector of the Zika virus, which is the mosquito “Aedes Aegypti”, has not been encountered in our country, according to the National reference Laboratory for arbo-viruses and entomological surveillance network of the Pasteur Institute of Algeria.

He further announced the setting up of a College of experts responsible for monitoring the “Zika virus” file and will take stock of all the measures taken and study the development of the virus epidemiological perspective and will then enforce remedial measures, if necessary, for improved prevention procedures.

The Ministry of Health explains that the disease transmitted by the Zika virus is a viral disease which happens in the vast majority of cases, like a flu-like syndrome which usually leads to spontaneous healing within 2 to 7 days with, however, a risk of micro-cephaly occurring in offsprings in case  a pregnant woman is affected by the virus.

And thus the health Ministry advises pregnant women to postpone their travel to those countries where the virus is rampant, while recalling that if the latter are compelled  for travel, regardless of destination, they must scrupulously abide by the usual hygiene rules and protection measures against mosquitoes.