The Zika virus is spread through mosquitoes, not people, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not yet found any cases in people who have traveled to regions with Zika transmission, according to a new report released Monday.CDC epidemiologist James O’Brien said the agency is aware of about 8,300 confirmed cases and 9,800 suspected cases of the virus and that the outbreak is under control.
However, there is concern that the virus may continue to spread and could have devastating consequences in areas with large populations, O’Brien said.
In addition to those 8,200 confirmed cases, there are about 2,800 cases of Zika virus disease in Brazil and about 6,300 cases in other countries, including the United States.
There are a total of 9,900 confirmed cases of ZIKV disease in the United Nations system, according a statement from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that was released Monday, citing data from the World Health Organization.
The OCHA also noted that the WHO did not include data on the number of cases of infection in Brazil.
“The OCAH/WHO data does not indicate that there has been an increase in infections, nor does it show that the number has increased significantly in Brazil, but the number is increasing,” the OCHA said.
“The outbreak in Brazil is likely to continue.”WHO has urged countries in the region to continue their work to contain the spread of the Zika virus.
“This virus, and other emerging infectious diseases like it, are a threat to global health,” said the WHO’s director-general, Dr. Margaret Chan, in a statement.
“We must do everything we can to prevent its spread and protect all people from contracting it.”
The new report came a day after a CDC advisory committee recommended that countries not send any new Zika vaccines to the United Kingdom, citing concerns that the vaccine could be contaminated with another disease, such as Dengue fever.WHO also noted in its advisory that there was no confirmed case of the Dengue virus, which causes yellow fever.
The WHO also said that while there is no known increase in Zika virus transmission, there has also been an increasing number of Zika cases.
Zika has been identified in the brain of a man who was in Brazil during the Zika epidemic, according the report.
A CDC spokesman told ABC News that the man tested positive for the virus in January and tested negative again on March 21.
The spokesman did not say what the man did to warrant the new test.ABC News’ Julie Pace contributed to this report.
