The agency recommends that pregnant women in the US should avoid sex with male partners who live in areas affected by the virus or have recently traveled there, or use condoms.
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The U.S. government has temporarily lowered its count of Zika cases because of a new reporting system.
For the first time, a health emergency has been declared in the USA because of the Zika virus, which is suspected of causing birth defects.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to release new guidelines regarding the spread of Zika virus.
Officials say a vaccine typically takes ten years to develop, but they are working with urgency to find a Zika cure.
The virus, which is rapidly spreading in the Americas, has been linked to a spike in birth defects in thousands of babies in Brazil.
With origins linked to Brazil, the Zika virus made its way to the US after travelers got infected and returned to the states.
“Officials from Kansas City Southern’s subsidiary railroads in the U.S., Mexico and Panama are aware of the Zika virus situation and are monitoring it. In Panama, regular fumigation is carried out to suppress mosquitoes”.
That is a troubling prospect for the United States, Canada and Europe, where Zika had so far only appeared in travellers returning from affected areas.
“Today I am directing Surgeon General Dr. John Armstrong to declare a public health emergency in the four counties that have individuals with the Zika virus”.
Queensland’s chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said there had been 10 diagnosed cases of the virus in the state since 2014, but they had all contracted the virus overseas.
The Zika virus spreads mostly through mosquitoes, which bite and drink blood from someone who has the disease and then transmits it someone else upon biting them. The games are expected to attract millions of fans from different countries that could start the spread of the Zika virus worldwide. “We went with soldiers yesterday, public health officials, door-to-door, educating people about prevention – specific things like small containers that contain water can be a breeding ground for this species of mosquito”, LaPook said.
Last week, Daily Star Online revealed that the aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries the virus, has been spotted in Kent and West Sussex.
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The only difference, Dr Young noted, was Zika patients often showed very mild symptoms, making cases harder to detect.
