According to Davenport, the Salt Lake County woman had traveled to a region that was affected by the virus while pregnant. These mosquitoes “become infected when they feed on a person already infected with the virus” and can spread it by biting another person, according to the CDC.
Advertisement
“So men who have had evidence of a rash, fever, conjunctivitis and joint pain, can potentially shed the virus in their semen for up to two months”. Whenever viruses and diseases cross bodies of water over to the United States, a countrywide panic ensues when media outlets report a few occurrences of “foreign” viruses and diseases.
Puerto Rico has many reported cases of Zika and also has locally-acquired transmission of the virus.
In February, the World Health Organization declared Zika a public health emergency of worldwide concern. There is no vaccine and no treatment, so avoiding exposure to the disease altogether is your best bet. Only about one in five people who are infected with Zika will get sick. The virus poses the greatest risk to pregnant women and their unborn children because of a strongly suspected link between a Zika outbreak in Brazil and a concurrent spike in microcephaly, a birth defect in which a baby is born with an abnormally small head and an underdeveloped brain.
The impending move comes as there’s greater urgency to battle the Zika virus as summer weather leads to mosquito season and a potential broader spread of the virus. The Federal officials recently confirmed that they are planning to use the Ebola reserve funds to provide assistance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Agency for International Development and other agencies that have been working day and night to develop a vaccine for the bad disease. Wear long, loose and light-colored shirts and pants and wear socks.
Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said the city will be keeping a closer eye on the mosquito population this year – increasing by 20% to 50% the number of traps laid for the insects. Open windows and doors should have screens.
Officials from the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Health Human Services and the State Department said they would move the budget that was originally meant to protect against Ebola virus in 2014.
Advertisement
Florida now can test 6,836 people for active Zika virus and 1,603 people for the antibody, which shows if they’ve ever been exposed to the virus.
