Denmark and Switzerland on Wednesday joined a growing number of European countries to report Zika infections among travellers returning from latin America, where the mosquito-borne virus has been blamed for a surge in birth defects.
“A Danish tourist who travelled to Central and South America was diagnosed on his return with the Zika virus,” a hospital in eastern Denmark said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Danish patient was a young man who was expected to make a full recovery, the head of Aarhus hospital, lars Ostergaard, told public broadcaster DR. Two people returning to Switzerland from Haiti and Colombia were also diagnosed with the virus, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health said.
The Netherlands confirmed 10 cases and Britain five, all among people returning from South America.