So what does this mean for Australian travellers, and in particular the pregnant women Zika Virus threatens most? However, the Aedes mosquito, which carries the virus, are present from Florida to CT, according to an entomologist quoted in the Washington Post, and as far west as IL.
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Only one in five who get Zika will feel the symptoms, which are generally mild, such as fever, rash, joint pain or conjunctivitis (pinkeye).
“Women who are pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant really are strongly encouraged to delay their travel to any countries where Zika transmission is now happening”, said Dr. Herminia Palacio, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services.
The Zika virus can infect anyone and can cause a flu-like illness, Philpott said.
There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which the World Health Organization said is “spreading explosively” through the Americas and may lead to as many as four million cases in the region.
Once centered in Asia and Africa, Zika spread eastward to Polynesia, then to Central and South America and the Caribbean, and now is in 21 countries and territories in the Americas.
Zika is also suspected of causing other serious conditions, such as other brain damage to unborn babies besides microcephaly, as well as a paralyzing condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Foo says that right now, the Zika cases here in the USA are in people who have traveled to countries where it’s spreading.
The previously little-known virus that re-emerged in Brazil in 2015 has now shown itself to be a possible threat to the continental United States.
“We are aware of one case in MA, a person who had traveled to an area where we already know Zika is being transmitted”, Dr. Larry Madoff, director of the Division of Epidemiology and Immunization at the Department of Public Health told the State House News Service.
Health officials say the number of US residents diagnosed with Zika infections in the past year has grown to 31.
Davis has been studying insects for years, and says our best bet is to take precautions against mosquito bites with or without Zika around.
“None of the patients had a severe form of the infection”, the ministry said in a Thursday statement, as quoted by La Parisienne, without specifying the regions in which these travellers stayed.
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The Health Ministry is advising caution and says it’s following the situation in countries with the Zika virus closely.
