A Snohomish County woman in her 40s has tested positive for the Zika virus according to results released to the Snohomish Health District. There is no specific medication available to treat Zika virus, and there is no vaccine. The other cases are in Palm Beach (2), Broward (1), Duval (1), Lake (1), Martin (1), Pinellas (1), and three involving pregnant women. Most people who catch Zika will have no symptoms.
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The woman’s illness is Taiwan’s sixth imported Zika virus case. “A very, very conservative guess would be that the medical costs of Zika would be around $600,000 for these families”, Jorge Alfaro-Murillo of Yale’s Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis told Wired.
The new cases bring the total number of locally transmitted Zika cases to 25 and the number of travel-related cases to 404.
The woman is not pregnant and all her symptoms have subsided, the CDC said, adding that she was in good health and had been asked to stay home, avoid mosquito bites and isolate herself until August 23 to prevent further spread of the virus. “CDC scientists announced that enough evidence has accumulated to conclude that Zika virus infection during pregnancy is a cause of microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects”.
The continental United States is also experiencing its first-ever local outbreak of Zika, in a one-square-mile Miami neighborhood called Wynwood.
Symptoms of Zika include fever, joint pain, a rash and red eyes that can last about one week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There are as yet no cases of pregnant women infected with Zika in the state outside of New York City, Ericsson said.
For more information about Zika, visit the CDC website.
“While these viruses are not now transmitted in California, there is a potential for them to be introduced into the state through infected worldwide travelers”, Merki said.
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Studies had previously confirmed that Zika virus was sexually transmitted from men to women. Partners of pregnant women are advised to use a condom to guard against sexual transmission during pregnancy.
