Brazil is by far the country most affected by Zika, though hundreds have now been infected in Puerto Rico, including the USA commonwealth’s first confirmed death from the virus.
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CDC said they will now keep tabs on women with any lab evidence of Zika infection – for instance, they have viral particles in them or had an immune reaction – and not just those who’ve shown symptoms or fetal complications.
Symptoms of Zika virus include mild fever, conjunctivitis, headache, joint pain and rashes.
While the majority of pregnant women the CDC is monitoring were infected with Zika while they traveled, the agency says some of these women were infected via sexual transmission.
“One challenge of this Zika virus outbreak is the lack of understanding of the magnitude of risk and the spectrum of outcomes associated with Zika virus infection during pregnancy”, agency researchers wrote in a report published Friday.
“As part of our preparations for the Olympic Games this summer, we have been closely monitoring the current situation with the Zika virus”, Busch wrote in the Thursday letter.
The higher number reflects changes in reporting criteria rather than a sudden increase in U.S. zika cases.
Even more concerning, Obama said, in Puerto Rico, where the virus is quickly spreading through mosquitoes. The mosquito behind the Zika virus seems to operate like a heat-driven missile of disease.
State health officials would not say whether the Maricopa County woman is pregnant, citing patient confidentiality.
A female Aedes aegypti mosquito acquires a blood meal on the arm of a researcher at the Biomedical Sciences Institute in the Sao Paulo’s University, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2016. The virus can cause abnormally small brains in babies, a condition called microcephaly, or other brain defects.
“It’s not a matter of if this viral infection will be locally transmitted”, said Dr. Fred Lopez, an infectious disease expert at the LSU Health Sciences Center.
There was a spike in diagnoses in February and March, but relatively few new cases since then, according to CDC data that includes women who experienced symptoms and those who didn’t. “Congress needs to get me a bill”.
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“Bottom line is Congress needs to get me a bill”.
