--- title: Zika Virus: Hong Kong Reports Its First Case description: The 38-year-old patient had recently traveled to St. Barthelemy island in the Caribbean — one of the hotbeds of the disease canonical: https://time.com/4468038/hong-kong-zika-virus-case-first-asia/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-26T08:35:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:13:15.679Z article:section: Health og:title: Hong Kong Reports Its First Case of Zika Virus og:description: The 38-year-old patient became infected on a recent visit to the Carribean og:url: https://time.com/4468038/hong-kong-zika-virus-case-first-asia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hong Kong Reports Its First Case of Zika Virus twitter:description: The 38-year-old patient became infected on a recent visit to the Carribean twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Hong Kong Reports First Case of Zika Virus as Disease Begins to Spread in Asia by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Aug 26, 2016 8:35 AM UTC by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Aug 26, 2016 8:35 AM UTC A woman in Hong Kong has been [diagnosed with the Zika virus](http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/2009071/hong-kong-reports-first-zika-virus-infection) this week, in the global financial hub’s first case of the mosquito-borne disease that has spread rapidly across the Americas and parts of Africa over the past year. The 38-year-old patient is currently isolated but in stable condition at a local hospital, the _South China Morning Post_ reports. She had recently traveled to St. Barthelemy island in the Caribbean — one of the hotbeds of the mosquito-borne disease — and began showing symptoms like red eyes and joint pain on Saturday before testing positive five days later. [Zika](http://time.com/4318624/zika-virus-and-birth-defects-what-you-need-to-know/), the current outbreak of which began in Brazil in 2015, causes a defect known as microcephaly (and [possibly more](http://time.com/4462996/zika-baby-brain-complications-microcephaly/)) in children born to women with the disease. **Read next:** [_Why You Should Care About Zika_](http://time.com/4451341/zika-virus-why-you-should-care/) The disease has spread rapidly across South and North America, [including](http://time.com/4463577/zika-florida-st-petersburg/) the U.S. In Asia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia and Malaysia have reported outbreaks of varying degrees, [according](http://www.who.int/emergencies/zika-virus/situation-report/18Aug2016-Zika-list-of-countries.pdf?ua=1) to the World Health Organization. The _Korea Times_ [reported](http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2016/08/120%5F212506.html) this week that South Korea too has confirmed 10 cases of the virus thus far. Several measures are being taken in Hong Kong to prevent the disease spreading further, Reuters [quoted](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-zika-hongkong-idUSKCN1101QU) an official from the city’s Department of Health as saying Thursday. The official added that the government’s priority is restricting the population of mosquitoes in the densely crowded subtropical city of over 7 million people. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4468038/hong-kong-zika-virus-case-first-asia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4468038/hong-kong-zika-virus-case-first-asia/"},"headline":"Hong Kong Reports First Case of Zika Virus as Disease Begins to Spread in Asia","datePublished":"2016-08-26T08:35:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:13:15.679Z","description":"The patient had recently traveled to St. Barthelemy island in the Caribbean — one of the hotbeds of the disease","url":"https://time.com/4468038/hong-kong-zika-virus-case-first-asia/","keywords":["Zika","Vietnam","Hong Kong topic","Thailand","Disease","Philippines","Asia","outbreak","mosquito","woman"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/zika/","name":"Zika"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4468038/hong-kong-zika-virus-case-first-asia/","name":"Hong Kong Reports First Case of Zika Virus as Disease Begins to Spread in Asia"}}]}] ```