Multiple cases of sexually transmitted Zika have been reported in several countries, including the USA, and the first case of sexually transmitted Zika was recently reported in Chile, where the Aedes aegypti mosquito – which transmits the disease – does not exist.
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Missouri health officials say they now will be able to conduct Zika testing quicker. For this reason, many people might not realize they have been infected.
First discovered in the Zika forest of Uganda in 1947, the virus circulated quietly in Africa and Asia, causing rare infections and producing mild symptoms.
Since Brazil first reported a startling increase in the birth defect microcephaly last fall, scientists have been working around the clock to confirm the suspected link to the mosquito-borne Zika virus. Though the agency uses a mosquito trap created to catch the bugs that carry the deadly West Nile virus, the mosquitoes that carry Zika are different, and Patrick said she hopes to purchase additional traps. The main focus remained reducing infection from mosquito bites. So far, D.C. has confirmed three cases of Zika related to worldwide travel. Ways to avoid mosquito bites while outdoors include wearing EPA-registered insect repellent with DEET, wearing trousers and long sleeves, or remaining indoors in an air conditioned environment.
Health officials have strongly urged pregnant women to avoid traveling overseas to areas where the Zika virus has been much more prominent, such as Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
“It’s certainly a cause for investigation and concern but, at the same time, unless you’re a pregnant woman or a woman looking to get pregnant, or a man who is also looking to conceive, I don’t think there’s any reason to panic”, Moore said.
Asked to quantify the risk to the United States, Frieden declined to predict how many Zika cases might be seen in the continental United States in the coming months.
It’s important for those who are in the infected area to wear protection especially during the day because it has been discovered that mosquitoes which spread Zika are “aggressive daytime biters”. The more Zika-susceptible mosquitoes buzzing around, the likelier this becomes.
Fuelling that suspicion are recent discoveries of serious brain and spinal cord infections – including encephalitis, meningitis and myelitis – in people exposed to Zika.
“If people who travel to affected areas, even if they don’t have symptoms were to use condoms as barrier protection for up to eight weeks after their return, that reduces the likelihood of sexual transmission”, Nesbitt said.
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“We don’t really fully understand the full duration of the carriage of the virus in men, especially in their sperm”.
