In April, the CDC reported the first US death from Zika occurring in a patient infected with the virus in Puerto Rico.
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The woman died this past June, but it was not until Friday, July 8, that the Salt Lake County Health Department (SLCoHD) confirmed she had been infected with the Zika virus, according to Fox News. The individual, who had traveled to a Zika-affected region this year, tested positive for the virus, the department said in a statement.
As of this week, 1,132 cases of travel-associated Zika had been reported in the United States of America, including 14 sexually transmitted cases.
Health officials are monitoring more than 300 pregnant American women who have shown signs of Zika virus, it has emerged.
The CDC has confirmed that the mosquito-borne virus is responsible for causing severe defects in unborn children, including microcephaly, which leaves babies with abnormally small heads and often with brains that do not develop properly. “Due to health privacy laws, health officials will not release further details about the individual or the individual’s travel history”. One reason the virus is so hard to track is because four out of five people infected do not show symptoms.
It’s spread mainly through the bite of a tropical mosquito, the Aedes aegpyti.
“CDC has been working with state, local, and territorial health officials to prepare for the possibility of locally acquired Zika infection in the United States”, the CDC said.
State Public Health Veterinarian Catherine Brown told 22News that while Zika is a source of concern, there are other, more prevalent diseases to worry about in western MA. A few days ago, there were also reports about the birth of a child that seems to have a medical condition caused after the mother contracted the virus. Symptoms of the condition, which can also be caused by other viruses, can include temporary paralysis.
There is not now a vaccine for Zika virus.
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A Missouri woman who traveled to Jamaica and another woman who traveled to Haiti mark the state’s eighth and ninth cases of Zika virus. The cases brought to 220 the number of people who have been infected with Zika since it first appeared here in January. Many people infected with Zika have no symptoms.
