The Aedes aegypti species of mosquito is now found only in small numbers in the Palmetto State, and only in the Lowcountry, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
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WFPL previously reported on the state’s effort to prepare for Zika virus.
Zika generally induces mild symptoms that last up to a week in healthy adults.
Brazil has been hardest hit by Zika, with some 1.5 million people infected and 745 confirmed cases of the brain-deforming syndrome microcephaly in children born to women infected with the virus while pregnant.
U.S.-based charities with humanitarian projects in the Americas worry the spread of the Zika virus could lead the fragile nation of Haiti to experience a spike in the kind of birth defects associated with Zika virus outbreak underway in Brazil. All have involved people who traveled to countries where the virus is widespread, according to the Florida Department of Health.
Dr. Tom Frieden confirmed during his visits to the island that the CDC is helping Puerto Rico to find better insecticides capable of killing the mosquito that transmits Zika and other diseases, and that officials are now testing nine different insecticides for the goal. The mosquito is the primary carrier of Zika. The diseases have never been transmitted within Kansas, Garrison said. At the time of the announcement, the state said the person had recovered and was no longer infectious.
There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika infection.
Of primary concern, however, is the virus’ link to infections in pregnant women and certain birth defects; the CDC is recommending pregnant women or those trying to get pregnant consider postponing travel to affected areas, including Central America, South America and Caribbean countries.
Garrison said Kansas’ warm weather this year might cause mosquitoes to appear earlier than usual. Officials say the two new ones are travel related, as was the first case, and were a result of mosquito bites during travel to countries were Zika is widespread.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said new evidence is becoming clear daily about the mosquito-borne virus. But that number is likely low. In a patch of forest near Lake Victoria in Uganda, mosquitoes known to carry the Zika virus buzz with little seeming worry amid the local community.
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Zika can be also spread by a man to his sexual partners. CDC has additional information online on how travelers can protect themselves and their family members from mosquito bites: http://www.cdc.gov/zika/prevention/index.html.
