The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that pregnant women in any trimester should refrain from traveling to regions where the Zika virus is active. The United States won most medals at the last Olympics in London in 2012, so any disruption to its presence would be important for the Rio games. This marks the first reports of American women who got the illness and then miscarried, although the Washington Post notes that miscarriages in women with Zika have been found in Brazil, the epicenter of the Zika outbreak. Global health authorities suspect the mosquito-borne Zika virus has caused a spike in Brazil of microcephaly, a birth defect marked by an abnormally small head.
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Zika virus has been detected in breast milk but there is now no evidence that the virus is transmitted to babies through breastfeeding, it said, reiterating its recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life. CDC has confirmed a USA case of Zika virus infection in a non-traveler after the person’s sexual partner returned from an affected country and developed symptoms.
However, Yuen said the man could still transmit the Zika virus through sex or blood transfusion. Frieden has said the link between Zika and Guillain-Barre, which can lead to paralysis in adults, is growing stronger.
Since 2013, there have been six confirmed cases of Zika in California, officials with the state Department of Public Health said last week. He also said his agency had reached vaccine partnerships with the CDC, the news service said.
CEO Scott Blackmun told USA Today on Wednesday that the USOC will enlist two infectious-disease specialists to consult with athletes anxious about the potential effects of the virus that has been linked to birth defects.
“We will send our athletes as we haven’t been officially warned about it”, said Bayi, one of the only two Tanzanian athletes who have won Olympic medals.
Housing thousands of mosquitoes, researchers studying the Zika virus, have plenty of test subjects.
“We don’t know the basics of how and where the virus replicates, what sort of immune response the body mounts to the virus and under what circumstances the virus causes diseases”, says David O’Connor, a member of the research team.
“Funder signatories will require researchers undertaking work relevant to public health emergencies to set in place mechanisms to share quality-assured interim and final data as rapidly and widely as possible, including with public health and research communities and the World Health Organisation”, it said.
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Hughes said he was receiving daily updates from the U.S. and Britain on the virus, which caused concern ahead of the Rio Olympics starting on August 5 this year.
