With outbreaks reported in at least 20 countries including Central and South America and the Caribbean, experts believe it’s only a matter of time before the virus spreads across the United States. But there’s been mounting evidence linking Zika infection in pregnant women to a birth defect in which a newborn’s head is unusually small and the brain may not develop properly.
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Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador and Jamaica last week recommended women delay pregnancies till more was known about the virus.
A spokeswoman from United Kingdom travel organisation Abta said women reconsidering their plans would be able to get a medical certificate from their family doctor in order to claim on insurance.
USA health officials are stepping up efforts to study the link between Zika infections and birth defects in infants amid predictions for widespread circulation of the virus within the United States during warmer months. The first is that the two species of mosquitoes that could be capable of transmitting the virus, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, live mostly in the southern, more tropical parts of the U.S. That makes it likely that transmission would be limited primarily to these areas. Also, the “population of the Americas had not previously been exposed to Zika and therefore lacks immunity”, according to a World Health Organization statement released Sunday.
The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico is reporting a jump in the number of mosquito-borne Zika virus cases.
In Brazil, as many as 1.5 million people may be infected.
He says virus, and the mosquito that carries it, is something B.C. needs to look at. Rio will host the August 5-21 Games. An individual becomes infected by the bite of an infected mosquito.
A mosquito borne virus in The Americas has spread to neighboring countries prompting The Center for Disease Control to offer an advisory.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed late yesterday afternoon that an Arkansas resident has tested positive for Zika virus.
“If a case of Zika virus is suspected, appropriate samples for testing (together with a full travel and clinical history with relevant dates) should be sent as early as possible to the PHE Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory”. The White House said Obama urged them to accelerate research into diagnostic tests, vaccines and therapeutic drugs, and work to inform Americans about the Zika virus and ways to protect against infection.
“We’ve had a lot of pregnant patients that are concerned about this”, said Dr. Curtis Lowery, Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist and Chairman of the OBGYN Department at UAMS. “It has milder symptoms than dengue or chikungunya or yellow fever”.
PAHO warned pregnant women to be “especially careful” and to see doctor before and after visiting areas affected by the virus.
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