Officials with the Dallas County Health and Human Services Department (DCHHS) announced Tuesday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed a fourth person in the county has the Zika virus.
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Health officials confirmed that a Napa County woman who traveled to Central America became the Bay Area’s first Zika virus.
US health authorities are advising pregnant women not to travel to Zika-affected countries.
With two new cases, Miami-Dade County is now reporting 19 Zika infections, bringing up the state’s total to 44, according to the Florida Department of Health.
The World Health Organization declared the Zika outbreak linked to thousands of birth defects in Brazil an worldwide health emergency on February 1, although much about the virus remains unknown.
Zika is spread, most commonly, from the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito, a kind of mosquito that does not live in Colorado, health officials said. Although the link between the virus and the birth defects has not been scientifically proven, mothers infected with Zika have been giving birth to children with microcephaly.
Professor Phillips said there was no risk to the public in South Australia from the case because the mosquito that spread the Zika virus was not in South Australia. Zika poses little threat to the general population, although evidence suggests men can transmit the virus to sexual partners after long exposure and long after any symptoms disappear.
There is now no vaccine or medication to treat the disease.
In addition to transmission via mosquito bites, the virus can be transmitted sexually. “Most people that get Zika won’t even know they have it”.
Given its relatively recent outbreak, it is still unknown whether or not Zika actually causes microcephaly or if there is some other factor at play here.
On Friday, the agency urged pregnant women to avoid going to the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil in August because of concerns about the virus.
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Montana is one of 25 states reporting a travel-associated case of Zika. It is usually mild and lasts several days to a week.
