The number of people in Maryland with the Zika virus has grown to 31, state health officials said Friday as they reminded people to take steps to avoid contracting the disease.
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The Zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease that can cause severe and sometimes fatal birth defects in newborns, has reached epidemic proportions in Puerto Rico and Latin American countries. There is no evidence of Zika in this state.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is awarding the Magnolia State more than $308, 000 to help support efforts to protect residents from the Zika virus.
Duval County has reported its third case of the Zika virus, according to the Florida Department of Health. The study found that the monkeys who were infected with Zika became immune to the virus after a few weeks, which also happened humans that the virus also lasted longer in pregnant monkeys only, not to non-pregnant ones, Time reported. Still, officials are urging men who have been diagnosed with Zika or have symptoms of the virus to use condoms for at least six months after symptoms first appeared. The Florida Department of Health says that all cases reported in Florida have been travel-related.
In New York state, 324 cases of Zika have been identified and have all been associated with travel to areas where mosquitoes are known to transmit it, the state’s Health Department says.
The KCDC said the sixth patient is not pregnant, noting that it has been conducting an in-depth epidemiological investigation.
There have not yet been any cases reported of local transmission of the virus in the U.S., but health experts expect local transmission to occur with the onset of mosquito season, especially in Gulf Coast states such as Florida and Texas.
Even one case of tragic birth defects that might have been prevented by the funding that Congress has unconscionably withheld is one too many.
The CDC is continuing to push for Congress to appropriate $1.9 billion toward fighting Zika — a measure President Barack Obama has sought since February.
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Earlier this week, Senate Democrats blocked a Republican proposal to provide $1.1 billion in funding to combat Zika.
