The U.N. health agency says reports from national authorities indicate no confirmed laboratory cases of the Zika virus in anyone associated with the Rio Olympics. Current evidence suggests that infected men can spread the virus for several months through sex, and women can transmit it for several weeks.
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Florida’s Department of Health said in a statement Wednesday that a 24-year-old Lake Worth woman has been confirmed to have contracted the virus.
The number of non-travel related cases in Florida now stands at 43, with the majority having occurred in Miami-Dade County.
“There’s not been any documental local transmission by mosquitoes of Zika virus in Maryland to date”, Brooks says.
Apart from general descriptions of where each of the 12 in-state patients had traveled, case specifics have not been released.
While the virus causes only a mild illness in most people, infection during pregnancy can lead to severe brain-related birth defects.
According to the CDC, Florida is the only state where local transmission from a mosquito has been recorded so far. Previously, the FDA had limited the requirement to Puerto Rico and two Florida counties.
“These are individual instances, and do not represent spread throughout the area”, Frieden said.
As of August 9, nine cases had been reported in the state.
“Expanded testing will continue to reduce the risk for transmission of Zika virus through the United States blood supply and will be in effect until the risk of transfusion transmission of Zika virus is reduced”, he concluded.
The female patient went to the doctor with a fever and itchy rash – typical Zika symptoms. 26, 2016, the Food and Drug Administration recommended that all US blood banks start screening for the Zika virus, a major expansion meant to protect the nation’s blood supply from the mosquito-borne disease.
The FDA also recommends that anyone who has traveled recently to an area where the Zika virus is active refrain from donating blood. Health officials, however, don’t expect widespread outbreaks to occur in the U.S.
Health experts do stress that the vast majority of the more than 2,260 Zika infections so far reported in the continental United States have been linked to travel overseas – to countries with Zika outbreaks in Latin America or the Caribbean. It has been linked to more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly in Brazil.
FDA officials said they do not anticipate any problems supplying the tests throughout the U.S.
This Q & A will tell you what you need to know about Zika.
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more information on mosquito-borne diseases.
