The Public Health Agency of Canada is warning pregnant women about travel to certain countries where the Zika virus is prevalent.
Advertisement
Still, travelers who have gotten infected with the Zika virus in other countries have already arrived in the US and more are expected, raising the possibility that the virus could spread a bit beyond those cases, Bell says.
“Many experts, including the CDC, have warned those in the south, particularly Florida, that there is great risk for awful consequences from Zika virus”, wrote Walter J. Tabachnick, former director of the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, in an opinion piece published in the Miami Herald.
As a result, officials have urged pregnant women and those planning on becoming pregnant soon to consider postponing travel to any region where Zika outbreaks are ongoing.
A relatively new mosquito-borne virus is prompting worldwide concern because of an alarming connection to a neurological birth disorder and the rapid spread of the virus across the globe.
There is no specific treatment or vaccine now available.
The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico is reporting a jump in the number of mosquito-borne Zika virus cases.
If mosquitoes in the United States do become carriers, a model created by Toronto researchers found more than 63% of the USA population lives in areas where Zika virus might spread during seasonally warm months.
Latin America’s largest airline says it’s waiving cancellation or flight-change fees for pregnant women who want to cancel flights to countries where the Zika virus is present. Of those 1,090 are pregnant women. He pointed to how dengue fever struck Key West in 2009, infecting 27 people, and then again in 2011, infecting 66 people. The mother most likely had the infection while she was residing in Brazil.
“We don’t know how it spreads, we don’t know even where the mosquito does get the virus from”, he said.
Marcelo Castro said that almost 220,000 members of Brazil’s Armed Forces would go door-to-door to help in mosquito eradication efforts ahead of the country’s Carnival celebrations.
She reported that 18 new cases of the Zika virus have been detected in the USA possession, raising the total to 19 since the Caribbean island’s first case was confirmed last month.
Data released on Tuesday from the US Conference Board as part of its monthly Consumer Confidence Index showed a record 54.4% of Americans plan a vacation in the next six months. There is no specific medicine and there hasn’t been a vaccine developed for it, which is the case for some other tropical illnesses that cause periodic outbreaks. The female Aedes aegypti, the primary carrier of Zika, is an aggressive biter, preferring daytime to dusk and indoors to outdoors.
Advertisement
Collins said the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease is conducting studies to more fully understand the effects of Zika in humans, and to develop better diagnostic tests to quickly determine if someone has been infected.
