All of them are travel-related and only three cases are still exhibiting symptoms, officials said.
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South Florida is home to more than 1,400 multinationals with employees who travel frequently through the Americas – including the 27 South American, Central American and Caribbean nations and territories where Zika is locally transmitted.
“Now that all these birth defects and associated conditions have come out, Zika is turning into a game-changer”, said Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec, an assistant professor in Emory University’s Department of Environmental Sciences.
Facing a greater possibility of the Zika virus being sexually transmitted, the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention tightened its recommendations for men and women who have been to Zika-affected nations.
Brazil, which has over 500 confirmed cases of microcephaly, reported the first cases of local transmission of Zika virus in May 2015.
The CDC said in two of the new suspected sexual transmission events, Zika virus infection was confirmed in women whose only known risk factor was sexual contact with an ill male partner.
And while the virus may be linked to birth defects when pregnant women are infected, for everyone else, it’s not unsafe. In fact the CDC now believes that, “Sexual transmission may be a more likely a means of transmission for the Zika virus than previously considered”.
For a pregnant woman, however, scientists suspect the virus can prove devastating to her fetus, which is why the CDC is reiterating its guidelines issued earlier this month regarding sexual contact. If you have plans to travel to areas where Zika virus is present, take precautions to prevent mosquito bites.
The most common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain and red, itchy eyes.
The virus is typically spread to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito: the Aedes aegypti, which is not native to MI.
There is no vaccine against Zika virus, which remains in a person’s bloodstream from 10 days to two weeks.
“We have made it a priority to stay ahead of the possible spread of this virus in Florida”, Armstrong told the senate committee, according to his written testimony. Upon learning of the three pregnant women who tested positive for the virus, Florida Governor Rick Scott requested 250 additional Zika antibody tests for the state.
In four other cases, preliminary tests indicate women were infected but confirmatory tests are pending.
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The CDC continues to recommend that men who have been to an area where there is active Zika transmission use condoms during sex with a pregnant partner, or abstain from sex for the duration of her pregnancy.
