With the amount of worldwide travel West Virginians take part it, the state’s chief health officer anticipated the Zika virus could impact more people after the first case in the state was reported Thursday.
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It’s a mosquito-borne virus that has infected hundreds of thousands of people and caused a rapidly spreading epidemic across Central and South America and the Caribbean.
NORRISTOWN Montgomery County officials confirmed the first case of Zika virus in the county Tuesday but downplayed the health risks to the general public. State health officials are asking residents who are concerned that they may be infected with the Zika virus to contact their healthcare provider if they develop the symptoms described above following a visit to an area overseas where Zika is found.
Pregnant women can be infected with Zika virus in any trimester and there have been increased cases of microcephaly possibly associated with Zika virus infections.
The Bureau for Public Health says there has been no local transmission of disease reported in the United States.
Until Friday, the CDC’s notice cautioned pregnant women from traveling to the 37 countries and territories, primarily in the Americas, where the virus has spread rapidly.
This 2003 photo provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a female Aedes albopictus mosquito acquiring a blood meal from a human host.
But “we can’t sustain that if we don’t have the support that we need”, Fauci said. “We know we won’t be able to protect 100 percent of women, but for every single case of Zika infection in pregnancy we prevent, we are preventing a potential personal and family tragedy”, he said.
Without new funding, it’s hard to plan for mosquito control operations in Puerto Rico or to do surveillance needed to figure out where in the USA mosquitoes that can transmit Zika virus are found. “The links are as strong as they would be for saying that tobacco causes lung cancer”, said researcher Dr. Arnaud Fontanet.
“With this revision, CDC recommends that women who are pregnant should postpone travel to areas that are at elevations less than 2,000 meters above sea level”, the report noted.
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The CDC has put out guidance related to the sexual transmission of the Zika virus. The CDC advises all travelers to Zika areas to use insect repellent and take other steps to avoid mosquito bites.
