Two more people have been infected by the Zika virus in Florida, including one more person in Miami-Dade County, Florida Surgeon General Dr. John Armstrong said Thursday.
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Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Dr Roscoe Taylor said the virus had been identified in 25 countries, saying there had been active Zika virus transmission in Brazil and other parts of Central and South America. Pregnant women reporting clinical illness consistent with Zika virus disease during or within 2 weeks of travel should be tested for Zika virus infection.
The primary concern surrounding the virus, which has largely been reported in Latin America, is its link to the birth defect microcephaly. However, the virus has been connected to microcephaly, a neurological disorder that results in babies being born with abnormally small heads.
“Our department will continue to actively partner with the CDC, Maryland health care providers, laboratories and health departments to provide support to Marylanders at risk of Zika infection – especially to pregnant women”, Maryland health department secretary Van T. Mitchell said in a statement.
Australia’s 450 athletes and about 300 officials will be issued mosquito repellent – the best known defense against Zika virus-carrying mosquitoes.
Testing of Guanabara Bay conducted by the AP over the a year ago shows disease-causing viruses linked to human sewage at levels well above what would be considered alarming in the US or Europe.
State health officials are working with the CDC and distributing guidance to Maryland hospitals.
About 20 percent of people infected with Zika will get sick.
“The illness may include a fever, a rash which is sometimes itchy, and joint pains. If the Olympics were today, I would not go”, she said.
Because it can also be transmitted sexually, men who have been exposed to Zika Virus are traveled to areas affected by the disease urged to abstain from sex or use protection.
Earlier in February, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said an global co-ordinated response was needed, although restrictions on travel or trade were not necessary.
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His agency last month found the Zika virus in the brain tissue of two dead newborns from Brazil and in placentas from two miscarriages.
