Mexico’s health ministry on Wednesday sought to play down any impact on its tourism industry from the mosquito-borne Zika virus, emphasizing the disease was under control and far from its main tourist centers.
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“It’s a concern of everyone”, said Guadalupe Monge, a travel agent with Miami-based Costamar travel agency. They want to know how bad it is.
So far, there have been few cases of Zika found in North America. Both draw tens of thousands to the region. Prompt action is needed, as well as messages from public health officials that are high on candor and low on alarmism.
“I would raise caution that any blood used in pregnant women should be tested for the presence of Zika virus”, something that now doesn’t happen, Lipkin said.
Use mosquito repellant with Deet, a common active ingredient.
Scott directed state officials to pay special attention to mosquito spraying in residential areas.
The hotspots for this Zika outbreak also have been temperature and drought hotspots recently. In Brazil, there were a heightened number of reported cases of microcephaly, a condition in which the baby’s head is abnormally small.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which declared a public health emergency, says the virus has been transmitted in at least 32 countries, from South America to the Western Pacific. “During the first week or so of infection, Zika virus can be passed from an infected person to another mosquito through mosquito bites”. Patient 1’s partner, identified as Patient 0, had recently returned to the state from Venezuela. The authors speculate that the virus may have replicated in the man’s genital tract.
“We have to ensure Florida is prepared and stays ahead of the spread of the Zika virus in our state”, Scott said in a statement.
Is sexual transmission definitely possible?
“We have 20,000 confirmed cases of Zika”, Gaviria told reporters outside the meeting.
The Zika virus is primarily spread through mosquito bites, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there have been isolated cases of spread through sexual contact with an infected individual.
A city worker fumigates a public school to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito, known to transmit dengue, Chikungunya and Zika, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016.
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The World Health Organization has declared the spike in serious birth defects an worldwide emergency and launched a global Zika response unit.
