Doctors have made these diagnoses – a total of 863 confirmed cases – by analyzing a computer tomography (CT) scan of the infants’ brains.
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The virus has caused birth defects with babies suffering from abnormally tiny heads. World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan, M.D., M.Sc. expressed similar sentiments in a March 22 press briefing.
Zika virus is posing severe public health implications and is linked to neonatal malformations and neurological disorders affecting newborns, WHO noted. “The kind of urgent action called for by this public health emergency should not wait for definitive proof”.
Travelers to Zika-affected countries will ultimately bring the virus back to the United States, where it is expected to spread to states with warmer and humid climates (such as Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Hawaii) as summer approaches.
The Aedes aegypti mosquito will thrive in the heat that envelops South Florida June through September, Beier said.
However, the virus has also been detected in bodily fluids – including blood, urine, amniotic fluid and saliva – as well as through sexual transmission.
Regardless, Sarkar says, cities such as Miami, Orlando, Houston, Tampa and New Orleans should step up efforts to sample and monitor local mosquito populations and be prepared to implement drastic mosquito control measures.
Zika virus, transmitted to people primarily through the bite of Aedes species mosquito (A. aegypti and A. albopictus), is a member of the Flaviviridae family, which includes medically important human pathogens such as dengue fever, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, tick-borne encephalitis, and West Nile viruses.
“And in addition, in places like Puerto Rico, where Zika is likely to spread widely, we want to ensure that if a woman decides to delay pregnancy, that access to voluntary effective contraception is available to her”.
The most common symptoms are fever and rash; it also can cause muscle and joint pain, headache, pain behind the eyes, and itchy, red eyes. Two teen deaths tentatively have been associated with the virus, but at least one teen had a pre-existing condition.
In addition, health authorities are investigating a link between the virus and a form of temporary paralysis, Guillain-Barré syndrome.
At a WHO media briefing yesterday, Anthony Costello, MD, director of the WHO’s maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health department, said most of the microcephaly cases are from northeastern Brazil and that about 39% of suspected cases are confirmed.
Earlier this week a Bowen resident was diagnosed with Zika after returning from Tonga.
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There are cases of the disease having been sexually transmitted to women by men, but not vice versa, said the professor. In other countries and territories, the virus has not been circulating long enough for pregnancies to come to term. But the CDC says that unless you or your partner are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, there’s no need to be on high alert.
