Danish hospital says case of Zika virus discovered

Dead insects and larvae float in an empty vase at a cemetery in Cartagena, Colombia, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. Local health workers emptied vases during a campaign to destroy potential hatcheries of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmits the Zika virus at a the cemetery as part of a prevention campaign that according to the health ministry has already infected more than 16,000 people in Colombia, and could hit more than half a million. (AP Photo/Reinaldo Reyes) (AP)

A Danish tourist has been infected by the Zika virus after visiting southern and central America, Danish hospital officials say, but authorities said Wednesday it was not the first case in Europe.

In a statement Tuesday, the Aarhus University Hospital said the patient ran a fever, had a headache and muscle aches and was discovered as having the virus on Tuesday.

There hospital released no further details about the patient but it says that there is little risk of it spreading in Denmark because the mosquito carrying the virus isn't found in the country.

Romit Jain, from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in Stockholm, says there have been confirmed cases of imported Zika virus infections in Germany and Britain.

A Zika virus case was also confirmed in Sweden last summer, said Sara Rorbecker of the Swedish Public Health Agency. She said the patient — a woman of non-fertile age — had contracted the virus when traveling, adding that there was nothing "dramatic" about the case.

Zika virus is not a notifiable disease in the European Union, meaning that EU countries are not required to report cases to the ECDC. Therefore, there is wide variation on reporting by member states.

The Zika virus, discovered decades ago in Africa, was long thought to be more of a nuisance illness, with symptoms generally much milder than its cousin dengue.

However, amid a large Zika outbreak in Brazil, researchers began reporting an increase in microcephaly - babies born with abnormally small heads.