A total of three Alabamians have now been confirmed to have contracted travel-related cases of Zika virus, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.
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Around one in 100 women who contract the Zika virus in the early stages of pregnancy could be at risk of having a baby with microcephaly, a new study reveals. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found cases where the virus has been sexually transmitted or spread via blood transfusion, the release said. Symptoms include fever, rash, joint and muscle pain, red eyes and headache.
There is no indication that Zika virus can spread from person to person through casual contact, but it can be spread from a man to a woman through sexual transmission.
According to the CDC, there are confirmed Zika cases in at least 31 states, and as of a few days ago, Kentucky is added to the list. The health department is also preparing guidelines to improve the monitoring of Zika infections and possible complications. A March 2016 study, “Zika Virus Infection in Pregnant Women in Rio de Janeiro-Preliminary Report”, published in the New England Journal of Medicine followed 88 pregnant women patients in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from September 2015 through February 2016.
“There has been regular and ongoing communication, sometimes several times a week, with hospital sites, clinics, primary care practices, making sure we are up-to-date with current CDC information on this disease”, Arkoosh said. The most common adverse effect of Zika among infants is the microcephaly or the abnormal smallness of the infant’s head. To date, Zika virus has not been confirmed in any state resident. More information can be obtained from the DPH Health Alerts website http://healthalerts.ky.gov/Pages/Zika.aspx.
At present no cases of locally transmitted Zika virus have been reported in Louisiana.
If you are using a sunscreen, apply the sunscreen and wait 20 minutes before applying insect repellent.
So far only there have only been travel-associated cases reported in the USA, but the CDC warns that could eventually result in the local spread of the virus. The World Health Organization declared Zika to be a global emergency last month, based on suspicions it is causing a spike in a worrying birth defect known as microcephaly as well as a rare condition that sometimes results in temporary paralysis. A positive correlation between babies born with microcephaly and women infected with the Zika virus is being investigated in Brazil due to an outbreak of the virus and an increased number of babies born with microcephaly.
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