The statement came at the request of Alejandro García Padilla, governor of the US commonwealth, where the Zika virus is spreading rapidly, threatening hundreds of pregnant women and their unborn babies and women of childbearing age.
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Angela Minicuci with the state Health Department said there have been over 20 diagnosed cases in MI so far, but none have been contracted within the state.
More than 1,900 cases of Zika were identified in the last week alone.
In four out of five cases, the virus causes no symptoms.
It appears, however, that experts’ previous criticism of the CDC’s narrow Zika transmission travel warning was on target: “To assume that it’s just restricted to these few square blocks is presumptuous”, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston told Reuters on August 1.
A total of 1,035 pregnant women are among the 10,690 people who have been infected in the USA territory of Puerto Rico in the past seven months, the island’s health authorities said.
In the continental United States, Florida is the first state to report local transmission.
Also, Florida reported 10 new travel-related cases, bringing the total to 413. Since then, no microcephaly cases have been reported, but federal officials say it’s only a matter of time.
A Monroe County resident is the latest in MI to test positive for the Zika virus. More than 100 pregnant women infected with Zika in Puerto Rico who have given birth have had healthy babies, officials said. “But they may have a whole spectrum of defecits which can include cognitive deficits, they can have problems with vision, they can have problems with hearing”.
“The level of concern here is low, but we can’t let our guard down”, he said. The outbreak was declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organisation in February.
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – The U.S. surgeon general on Thursday urged Puerto Rico to step up its public education campaign against Zika as he warned that 25 percent of the island will be infected with the mosquito-borne virus by year’s end.
