This is the first time the agency had disclosed the number of infected pregnant women in the US and and its territories. He said scientists are still learning about the scope and effects of the virus, which can cause severe birth defects and miscarriages in pregnant women.
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“In that particular instance we’vie seen clear evidence from the cases that have been reported in Brazil that there’s a risk for serious neurological fetal birth defects”, Maupin said.
“Currently in Washington, we have tested 350 travelers who have had a concern or exposure to Zika”, said Dr. Scott Lindquist, State Communicable Disease Epidemiologist. It is also possible that the infection could have also occurred through sexual intercourse with a male partner who recently went to Zika-affected countries mainly in Latin American and Caribbean regions.
In February the World Health Organization declared the Zika Virus outbreak a “Global Health Emergency” due to its connection to microcephaly, a disorder which causes babies to be born with abnormally small brains.
On Friday, President Barack Obama said Congress has “got to get moving” on a Zika funding package to implement the USA government’s Zika prevention strategy, the Associated Press reported. These symptoms can last up to 10 days but the virus remains in the body for much longer.
A female Aedes aegypti mosquito takes flight as she leaves her host’s skin surface with a newly-obtained red blood meal visible through her now transparent abdomen in this 2006 image from the Centers for Disease Control.
Honein said it is not yet possible to estimate from the two surveillance systems the risk of adverse outcomes among pregnant women, but added that it eventually will be. “S. and its territories who have lab tests suggestive of Zika virus infections”, according to a news report published by NPR.
There has been no evidence that any American has contracted Zika from being bitten by a mosquito in the continental United States.
Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on the Zika virus. Obama has asked Congress to allocate $1.9 billion to combat the Zika threat. The funding bill with the most support right now sets aside a little more than $1 billion.
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Christ said state and county health and environmental officials will work to identify any mosquito breeding sites at or near the homes of the two Maricopa County residents.
