Health department confirms Hawaii’s first imported Zika case of 2016

An Oahu resident who contracted Zika virus elsewhere in the Pacific became Hawaii’s first case of the mosquito-borne virus this year, health officials said.

The person has recovered and is no longer infectious, the state Department of Health said Thursday. There have been no reports of Zika being transmitted within the state this year.

“It was an imported case and the person probably traveled extensively in areas that have the Zika virus, came back, but was found to be not infectious. So there’s no threat to the population here as a whole,” said Keith Kawaoka, deputy director of the department’s Environmental Health Administration.

Latin America and the Caribbean have been hit with mosquito-borne Zika outbreaks in the last year.

Most people who get the virus display no symptoms, and those who do generally avoid serious illness. But the virus has been suspected of causing a serious birth defect in which babies are born with abnormally small heads.

Symptoms of the virus include fever, joint pain, rash, conjunctivitis and muscle pain. Four cases of Zika were reported in Hawaii last year, and two in 2014.

This year’s case comes as the state fights an outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue fever, with 260 cases reported on the Big Island.

“With Zika, and our current dengue outbreak, it’s important for everyone in the state to reduce mosquito breeding areas by getting rid of standing water, and use repellant or protective clothing to prevent mosquito bites,” said Dr. Virginia Pressler, director of the health department.

Gov. David Ige signed an emergency proclamation last month putting more money into preventing the spread of mosquito-borne illnesses.