News outlets discuss findings from two CDC reports on Zika virus among travelers to Latin America and the Caribbean, including pregnant women and the sexual partners of those travelers. It is warning pregnant women to avoid traveling to Zika-affected areas.
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As knowledge of the link between Zika and birth defects evolves, CDC recommends special precautions for pregnant women.
Of the two pregnant women with Zika diagnosed during their second trimester, one gave birth to an apparently healthy baby and another is still pregnant.
There is a low chance of Zika virus being established in Townsville mosquitoes after inconclusive test results from a patient thought to have been infected, health authorities say. The agency suggested that pregnant women consider not going to the games and that if their male partners go, the couple should use condoms after the trip or abstain from sex during the pregnancy.
Florida has more confirmed Zika cases than any other state, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has reported 107 cases in the continental United States as of February 24. The most serious risk from Zika seems to be to pregnant women and their developing fetus, Frieden said. An increase in microcephaly was not seen after an outbreak of the Zika virus in Micronesia in 2007, or in French Polynesia in 2013-2014.
Only one out of every five people infected with Zika show any symptoms, and even those who fall ill usually do not suffer severe symptoms. In addition, it said it has established a voluntary registry to collect information about pregnant women in the United States with confirmed Zika virus infection and their babies.
It was first named after the Ugandan forest where it was discovered in 1947 in the blood of a rhesus monkey, and the Zika virus has infected people on multiple continents ever since.
Only pregnant women or individuals planning a pregnancy are encouraged to delay their travel if possible. MOH is also looking at potential areas for collaboration and research with the relevant institutions on Zika virus diagnostics, transmission, and the association with microcephaly and GBS, she added. “It is unexpected and greater than what we would have expected”.
The IOC has expressed confidence in measures being taken against the virus in Brazil – spraying and removing standing water – and is following the advice of the World Health Organization.
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In this February 24, 2016 photo, a Puerto Rico’s Health Department worker reviews Zika related data collected by the island’s health department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in San Juan, Puerto Rico….
