The Public Health Department says it continues to work with local health care providers and partner organizations to consider Zika as they see patients and to ask about travel history. The department said it would not release any additional information to protect the privacy of the families. Once a travel-related case is identified, public health officials and local mosquito control agencies are notified to take action to minimize the potential for local spread.
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The IDPH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both recommended earlier this week that pregnant women avoid traveling to Wynwood near Miami, Florida, where mosquitos are spreading Zika virus.
In California two babies have been born with Zika virus defects, one of them being born in Berkeley. There is no evidence that mosquitoes are transmitting the virus in the state, health officials said.
Today the city of Amarillo’s Public Health Department announced that another person in our area has the virus.
Three cases of Zika virus have been reported in Kane County as of June 30, Kane County Health Department spokesman Tom Schlueter said Friday.
Regardless, Los Angeles County health officials said the news should be a reminder to pregnant women about the dangers of Zika. “But mostly, we want them to do that because of the West Nile virus”, said Dr. Arwady.
In the United States, health authorities are closely monitoring the development of the disease in South Florida, where so far 15 cases of local Zika infection have been detected within one square mile in the Greater Miami area.
Also experts in Roosevelt County New Mexico say mosquitoes there have the capability of transferring Zika.
Zika is transmitted primarily through the bite of an infected mosquito. “That’s especially true for women who are pregnant and those who would like to get pregnant”. The cases include 433 pregnant women in the USA, and 422 in the territories.
The first case of Zika in San Francisco was reported March 3, followed by a second case reported April 22.
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Microcephly is a condition in which babies have abnormally small heads and incomplete brain development.
