HEALTH authorities have confirmed the first imported case of Zika virus in Cairns.

Dr Richard Gair, from the Tropical Public Health Service (Cairns), said the Zika case was almost certainly contracted in the Carribean, where the woman had recently travelled.

Despite the incident, Dr Gair said the risk of transmission was very low thanks to the resident reporting to their doctor early. The Dengue Action Response Team (DART) was deployed to the woman's suburb on Wednesday. 

It's important to note there have been no locally acquired cases of Zika virus confirmed in Queensland.

However, Dr Gair said now was the time to kill the dengue/zika mosquito, not just tip out their breeding sites.

“The best way to do this is to spray in and around your home in dark hiding places with an ordinary surface or cockroach insect spray,” he said.

“Now more than ever, it is vital that our community has the facts about the dengue/zika mosquito. They live in and around your home, have a short life expectancy, do not fly far and are likely to bite people on the feet during the day.

“Removing breeding sites in and around homes and killing these mosquitoes needs to become as natural as putting out the garbage bins."

WHAT IS THE ZIKA VIRUS?
The Zika virus is usually a mild disease, however given the possible risk to unborn babies, pregnant women or women planning a pregnancy are urged to be vigilant. 

The illness is usually short, lasting four to seven days, and is diagnosed by having a blood test. 

Symptoms of Zika virus include fever, headache, sometimes with pain, muscle and joint pain, red rash, non-infective conjunctivitis, and fatigue.

Zika is a mosquito-borne virus transmitted to humans by infected vector mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti), the same species that can transmit dengue fever. 

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Once a week check yards for mosquito breeding. Tip out, flush out, throw away or dry-store any containers holding water in which mosquitoes can breed
  
  
• Use indoor surface spray, mozzie zappers and coils around the house to kill dengue mosquitoes and avoid being bitten.
  
  
• If a team of professionals from Queensland Health arrive and offer to spray your place, let them do so.
  
  
• Common dengue/zika mosquito breeding sites include tyres, buckets, toys and pot-plant bases.

More information about dengue fever is available at www.health.qld.gov.au/dengue and resources on Zika virus can be found at www.health.qld.gov.au/zika/