While Zika hasn’t been proven to cause the birth defect, the Public Health Agency of Canada is advising pregnant women and those who plan to become pregnant to consider postponing travel to areas where Zika has taken root.
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Devine said there could also be some overlap: certain countries or regions where malaria-carrying mosquitoes are present may now also be home to the Zika virus, which originated in Africa and spread to southeast Asia, then made its way to the Pacific Islands, and past year to the Western Hemisphere.
In a statement, the commission warned of the risk of imported Zika cases, even though no case has been reported in China.
The campaign aims to tell people about Zika’s symptoms, how to avoid it and how to eliminate areas where it breeds. A consortium including drugmaker Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. has indicated they could possibly have a vaccine ready for emergency public health use late Fall.
Mangano, Commissioner of Health Dr. Lawrence Eisenstein, Nassau University Medical Center President/CEO Dr. Vic Politi, infectious disease experts and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Madalyn Farley today cautioned residents of the effects of the Zika virus after a Nassau County resident contracted the virus, issued a health warning for travelers and offered consumer refund assistance to pregnant travelers encountering resistance from airlines and cruise lines. Another developer, Replikins Ltd, is preparing to start animal studies on a Zika vaccine in the next 10 days.
One is a DNA-based vaccine using a strategy very similar to one employed in a vaccine for West Nile virus, Fauci said.
Several governments have warned pregnant women against traveling to affected countries, and several major airlines are now offering refunds to expecting mothers booked for travel to Latin America.
Brazilian officials say they are handing out insect repellant – whose price has gone up since the Zika outbreak began past year – to 400,000 pregnant women on social welfare.
Direct Relief is also providing mosquito nets in Haiti.
“Community awareness plays an instrumental role in this regard”.
Apart from its possible effects on pregnancy, doctors generally classify the virus as a mild illness that clears up within a week or so.
For all these plagues, Rousseff urged an increase in prevention measures against the Aedes aegypti mosquito, a campaign that she said also has the collaboration of “churches, unions, soccer clubs” and all the organizations of civil society.
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Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff and Health Minister Marcelo Castro (left) walk during their visit to the National Control Centre of combat viruses zika, dengue and chikungunya in Brasilia, January 29, 2016.
