For more on Zika virus, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus has also been linked to Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a neurological condition that can cause muscle weakness and paralysis. “Are you planning to go on vacation to hit the person who is trying to get pregnant? – you really start that conversation”, Hurst said. We think there could be hundreds of thousands of cases of Zika virus in Puerto Rico and perhaps hundreds of affected babies. Sexual transmission of Zika has also been observed.
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Not every baby born to a mother infected with Zika will have long-term effects, she said. CDC has issued a number of previous travel notices (level 2, “practice enhanced precautions”) for people traveling to destinations with zika. If we don’t intervene now, we could begin seeing newborns with microcephaly and stunted brain development on the obstetrics wards in one or more of these places.
“Congress must immediately act and provide needed emergency funds so the President and his administration have all the tools they need to address Zika both here and overseas”, Clinton wrote in an op-ed in El Nuevo Dia, written in Spanish.
We are not saying it’s time to raise a general alarm, but it should be noted that people are nervous about the potentially grave consequences of a mere mosquito bite.
The Centers For Disease Control confirmed another sexually transmitted case of the Zika virus was discovered in Dallas, CBS Dallas-Forth Worth reports.
Global health officials suspect a connection between pregnant woman catching the virus and a birth defect called microcephaly in newborns. “For reasons we do not understand, this is a virus that is causing severe abnormalities in unborn children and that’s unusual for a mosquito-borne virus”. In 20 percent of cases, the virus can cause mild symptoms of fever, rash, joint pain and pink eye. “Currently reporting” countries are those having reported cases since 2015.
Williams told lawmakers that the standard of preventing the spread of Zika-bearing mosquitoes will be to do targeted spraying, rather than using trucks to spray clouds of insecticide.
After that, several samples containing the Zika virus were collected in Uganda, including Entebbe and Kisubi, but “since then no other samples from humans, mosquitoes or monkeys have been collected [in Uganda]”, the virologist added.
Worryingly, the geographical range of the Aedes aegypti mosquito has been underestimated. Workers performing tasks related to mosquito control, such as entering areas with dense mosquito populations (ponds and other locations of standing water), may need additional protection (additional protective clothing, enhanced skin protection), depending on their job tasks.
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He explains, “Anything that will hold water can breed mosquitoes”.
