Other confirmed cases of the illness in the US have occurred in individuals who had traveled to areas affected by the Zika outbreak.
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The guidelines focused on using safe and effective insecticides against the adult and larval populations of mosquito vectors as one of the best ways to rapidly interrupt the transmission of Zika virus, as well as other viruses transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes such as chikungunya and dengue.
Zika is the first mosquito-borne disease known to spread through sex, said the CDC’s Lyle Petersen at a meeting last week of the Pan American Health Organization, part of the WHO.
There are now 52 confirmed Zika cases in Florida. The vast majority have been in Miami-Dade County. In recent months, the virus has spread around the Americas to 31 countries and territories, Chan said.
But WHO chief Margaret Chan told reporters that “we do not have to wait until we have definitive proof” before advising pregnant women against travel.
She called the development “alarming ” .
Chan said the evidenced is becoming ever stronger that Zika causes a range of severe birth defects, including microcephaly, and Guillain-Barre syndrome, a paralyzing reaction to infections and, sometimes, to vaccines. That gives the virus a chance to infect people in places far from the mosquitoes that usually spread it. One report found that the virus persisted in a man’s semen for at least 62 days after he was sick with Zika.
Marines deploying next month for Balikatan exercises in the Philippines will be briefed about the Zika virus present on the islands but won’t need to take special measures to protect themselves.
More information about Zika is available on our web page at www.SLOpublichealth.org, under Zika virus. To find out if the Zika virus might be responsible, researchers examined these pregnancies and counted backward to identify the mothers’ first trimester.
Which means honeymooners are looking elsewhere, “I do think you’re going to have some people who aren’t even calling in to ask for those destinations, due to their concern”, Dennis said.
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“While the risk for Zika virus transmission in the Bay Area is low, Zika-infected travelers will arrive from areas where mosquitoes are transmitting the disease”, said Dr. Michael Busch, co-director of the Blood Systems Research Institute and UCSF professor.
