State officials are investigating Pinellas County’s first non-travel-related case of Zika virus, according to a release from Gov. Rick Scott’s office.
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Dr. Mary Ashley Cain, an OBGYN at the University of South Florida who specializes in high risk pregnancies, has cared for pregnant woman with travel-related cases of Zika.
The announcement Wednesday was the county’s second case of locally-transmitted Zika. That person did not get it by traveling out of the country or to the Miami area where other Zika cases have been transmitted by mosquitoes. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control reports at least 529 pregnant women have been infected with Zika in the U.S. Five of their unborn babies died in miscarriages or abortions, while 16 other babies were born with birth defects in the U.S., the CDC reports. However, the department emphasized that one case does not mean ongoing active transmission is taking place. The person, which was identified only as a woman, did not travel outside the county, and medical officials believe she contracted the virus through a mosquito bite.
“Despite these threats, we are not investing in public health preparedness and emergency response the way we should to keep our families and communities safe”, Mrs. Clinton said.
A recent study published by Brazilian researchers from the D’Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Institute for Research Professor Amorim Neto (IPESQ), alongside Tel Aviv University and the Boston Children’s Hospital in the USA, indicates that microcephaly, a very usual feature in cases of Zika virus gestational infection, is just one of several observed brain changes. As Miami-Dade OB-GYN Dr. Elizabeth Etkin-Kramer noted, “patients are very anxious, and they bring up the subject of Zika with me before I even get a chance”. Should Florida pregnant women stay indoors?
The study also included reports on 28 fetuses or newborns with brain anomalies whose mothers were suspected of having Zika during pregnancy.
In the study, the researchers examined medical scans and autopsy results from 17 fetuses and newborns in Brazil confirmed to have Zika infection and 28 fetuses and newborns suspected to have Zika infection.
The statement added that more than 3,900 people had been tested for Zika. Doctors and public health experts have been warning for months that the Zika virus was likely to reach the continental United States, but Congress has failed to pass the President’s emergency funding request.
The State Surgeon General has activated a 24-hour Zika hotline in Florida to answer questions and concerns.
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He also said the Centers for Disease Control has not provided the 10,000 additional Zika Prevention kits he asked for, nor has the White House offered a plan on how to work with FEMA. This suggests that Zika-infected babies who don’t have obvious initial symptoms may develop problems as they grow.
