Colombia said Friday that three people had died after contracting the Zika virus and developing a rare nerve disorder called Guillain-Barre, in which the immune system attacks the nervous system. “We have confirmed and attributed three deaths to Zika,” said Martha Lucia Ospina, head of the National Health Institute. “In this case, the three deaths were preceded by Guillain-Barre syndrome,” France24 reported. Scientists have also identified the Zika virus in the saliva and urine of two infected patients, a top Brazilian biomedical research institution said on Friday in Rio de Janeiro, host of the 2016 summer Olympic Games in August. They said tests to identify the virus in saliva and urine samples from two patients with Zika infection determined that the virus was active, meaning it had the potential to cause infection, Reuters reported. More research was needed to determine whether Zika could be transmitted by either fluid, Reuters reported.
