CORRECTS CDC IS INVESTIGATING WHETHER AEDES ALBOPICTUS SPREADS THE ZIKA VIRUS, NOT DEFINITIVE - This 2003 photo provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a female Aedes albopictus mosquito acquiring a blood meal from a human host. On Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, U.S. health officials are telling pregnant women to avoid travel to Latin America and Caribbean countries with outbreaks of a tropical illness linked to birth defects. The Zika virus is spread through mosquito bites from Aedes aegypti and the CDC is investigating whether it is also spread by Aedes albopictus. The disease causes only a mild illness in most people. But theres been mounting evidence linking the virus to a surge of a rare birth defect in Brazil. (James Gathany/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via AP)
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) -- Ugandan researchers say the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus is not considered a threat in the African country where it was first discovered in a monkey in 1947.
Julius Lutwama, a virologist with the Uganda Virus Research Institute who has long investigated Zika, said Wednesday there has never been a known outbreak in Uganda though a few samples have tested positive over the years.
He said Zika is "not a very important disease" on a continent where malaria, also transmitted by mosquitoes, is the major killer.
Zika virus is named for a forest just outside Uganda's capital, Kampala, where it was first identified.
Zika is suspected in a surge of birth defects in Brazil, where infections were first identified last year.
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