No new locally transmitted cases were reported in Pinellas County on Wednesday, although Scott confirmed a new infection in Palm Beach County, raising the number of nontravel-related cases in Florida to 43.
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The five latest cases bring the state total to 42, state health officials said. With two areas of southern Florida now considered to be active Zika zones, local obstetricians are recommending their patients to take extra precautions during their pregnancies to avoid mosquito bites.
“This case is a travel associated case, there have been no cases of Zika virus transmitted through mosquitoes in the State of OH”, said Kimberly Moss, Defiance County Health Commissioner.
This case is unrelated to the other non-travel related case announced earlier this month in the region. There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika at this time, and experts anticipate Zika will continue to spread in the U.S.
Also today, in a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine a Brazilian doctor described a case of microcephaly, developmental delay, and Zika viremia in a child whose mother was infected with Zika around her 26 week of pregnancy.
Pediatrician Alexia Harrist from the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) examines 3-month-old Shayde Henrique, who was born with microcephaly, in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016.
If Zika causes long-lasting infections in newborns, that could indicate the virus will continue attacking the brain and perhaps other tissue even after birth.
Zika is most known for its link to a devastating birth defect called microcephaly, where babies are born with a smaller than normal head and underdeveloped brains. He had severe muscle contractions – a common sign of brain damage – on one side of his body.
“While this investigation is ongoing, DOH still believes that ongoing active transmissions are only occurring in the two previously identified areas in Wynwood and Miami Beach”, Scott said in a release.
We’re learning more about the state’s response plan.
Because the cortex keeps developing after birth, Dr Levine said, “we’re concerned that there might be mild cases that we haven’t seen yet, and we should keep monitoring the babies after birth to see if they have cortical abnormalities”.
US officials said they don’t expect to see a Zika epidemic in the United States similar to those in Latin America.
In addition to mosquitoes, the Zika virus can be transmitted through sex.
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Members of Congress have been at loggerheads for months over the fate of a $1.1 billion spending bill proposed by President Barack Obama that would help fight the spread of Zika. “Thank you on behalf of the citizens of the state of Florida”, Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera told Miami-Dade health administrator Lillian Rivera.
