A total of 116 residents in the US have now been confirmed to have tested positive for the Zika virus, says a report by US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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Samples of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, responsible for transmitting dengue and Zika, sit in a petri dish at the Fiocruz Institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil.
Just a day before President Obama’s three-day historic trip to Cuba, marking the first time in 90 years that a sitting USA president visits the country, a lowly mosquito has had the two countries gripped in worry.
The CDC issued a travel advisory warning people to restrict their visit to Cuba due to the spread of the Zika virus. Hundreds of staff members, reporters, business leaders and members of Congress were expected to travel with the president. The virus can be sexually transmitted from a male partner.
Zika is spread though bites from a specific mosquito and is believed to carry particular risk for birth defects.
There are many things that are unknown about Zika, including exactly how the virus is causing pregnant women to deliver babies suffering from microcephaly, which is a condition in which infants are born with smaller-than-average heads and poor brain development.
The Department of Health is continuing to do all the measures to prevent the Zika virus from spreading in the country, Malacañang said on Sunday.
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Cases in the continental United States have been limited to infected travelers who brought the virus back home from Latin America or other regions. Before the case was confirmed, the nation was reported to have more than 9,000 soldiers, police and university students putting in efforts to eliminate mosquitoes through fumigation and eliminating stagnant water.
