While zika does not spread from person to person, mosquitoes could feed on returning travelers carrying the disease before transmitting it to others.
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– It is transmitted primarily by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which also can also spread dengue fever, chikungunya and yellow fever.
The CDC has listed the zika virus as a second-category notifiable infectious disease, meaning that doctors should notify the CDC of suspected cases within 24 hours.
Pregnant women traveling to areas where Zika is known to have been transmitted, the CDC suggests women wear long-sleeve shirts and long trousers, use insect repellents, and stay and sleep in screened-in or air-conditioned rooms.
At this time, there is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat Zika. According to the CDC, the most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis, and severe cases that require hospitalization are rare.
At least 20 Latin American countries have reported cases of the Zika virus, the Associated Press reported.
Q: Many people are just now becoming aware of the Zika virus. However, health officials are advising the public not to worry, as all of the USA cases so far were contracted overseas from mosquitos in countries affected by outbreaks.
The CDC is warning traveling pregnant women of the Zika virus over concerns that it can affect your unborn child.
The link with Zika has not been confirmed, but a small number of babies who died had the virus in their brain and no other explanation for the surge in microcephaly has been suggested.
Over 3,800 cases of microcephaly have been reported in Brazil, where the virus has already killed five babies, while another 44 deaths are being investigated.
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“We’d like to suggest to all the women of fertile age that they take steps to plan their pregnancies, and avoid getting pregnant between this year and next”, he said. “The virus will not cause infections in a baby that is conceived after the virus is cleared from the blood”. The virus is circulating via mosquitoes in the Caribbean, Central America and South America. The list of these includes El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Haiti, Martinique, Puerto Rico and Mexico.
