State health officials announced Wednesday a person in Morgan County (northern Alabama) tested positive for the mosquito-borne virus after traveling to a country where Zika Virus is spreading. Pregnant women or women who are planning to get pregnant are urged to not travel to countries affected by Zika Virus.
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Brazil is also investigating a potential link between Zika infections and more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small skulls in newborns and stunted brain development.
A baby born with birth defect in Hawaii in January was the first case of Zika incident in the U.S., and health officials revealed the baby’s mother was in Brazil a year ago where she could have contracted the infection which ultimately affected the baby in the womb.
Three cases of the virus have been confirmed in Queensland state this year, and two in neighbouring New South Wales. The alarm regarding Zika virus now is the possibility that it could harm unborn babies in pregnant women. Even so, area environmental specialists are amping up mosquito-control efforts that are already in place, thanks to West Nile virus. Women who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy should not visit these areas. The heath department said it expects its laboratory to be able to test for Zika within the next week.
The patient traveled to a country where Zika transmission has been active and ongoing, officials said.
The Zika virus is mainly transmitted through mosquito bites, and the mosquito linked to the outbreaks does not exist in this region.
Mayor de Blasio convened a panel of health experts at City Hall on Thursday but said there’s no evidence the virus-carrying mosquitoes are in the Big Apple.
Last week the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus a global public health emergency.
Locally, Lehigh University says a student has recovered after becoming infected with the Zika virus.
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“That’s why the department is doing absolutely everything they can to ensure that this woman receives all of the support and the care that she needs during this extremely hard period”.
