The Centers for Disease Control is investigating 14 possible cases of Zika virus in the USA that may have been spread through sex. While news of Zika virus cases are becoming more prominent, most students at Ohio State should not be alarmed but should take precautions when traveling overseas to infected areas.
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The latest 14 cases all involve men who had travelled to Zika-affected areas, and whose female sexual partners later fell ill with Zika-like symptoms – even though they hadn’t travelled to outbreak areas themselves.
The first human outbreak of the virus documented in the Pacific was in Yap State in the Federal States of Micronesia during April 2007, according to a February 2016 updated paper on Zika virus transmission in the Pacific Islands from 2007 to 2016, posted on the World Health Organization bulletin.
According to the GDPM, as many as 44 countries and territories have so far announced Zika virus cases, including three deaths in Venezuela and two in Brazil.
Babies born to mothers infected with the Zika virus can develop microcephaly, a condition where infants have smaller heads and the potential for long-term developmental issues.
Brazil’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday that the number of confirmed and suspected cases of microcephaly has risen to 4,690 from 4,443 a week earlier. The Zika virus spreads through mosquito bites and now, there is no cure for it. “Testing for the male partners is still pending”. “But we don’t yet have mosquito-borne transmission [in the U.S.], so the sexual transmission cases are coming to our attention”. None of the confirmed cases involve pregnant women.
“Obviously, we’ve seen the problems of logistics – to be able to reach the families, to have them be there”, said Dr. Alexia Harrist, a Boston-born pediatrician who works in the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service. “The science is not clear on how long the risk should be avoided”, the agency said.
Couples in which the woman is not pregnant may still want to use protection.
Cape Town – South Africa is ready to fight the Zika virus, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said in Parliament on Tuesday. This includes any history of Zika-like infection.
In most people, the illness causes only mild flu-like symptoms. This is a worry because the Aedes albopictus has a much larger range in the United States, reaching at least 32 states, though researchers think this mosquito doesn’t spread the virus as efficiently.
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Advertising technology and research company Fluent polled 3,312 Americans to gauge their views of the Zika outbreak and how it is affecting their willingness to travel in the coming months. Pregnant women, on the other hand, need to exercise caution owing to the suspected risks of microcephaly and and Guillain-Barré syndrome to offspring.
