“Even though we didn’t find live virus in mouse tears, that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be infectious in humans”, said Dr. Jonathan Miner of Washington University in St. Louis, who led the study. The first case of the presence of Zika virus in the genital tract of a female with Zika virus infection was also reported in July 2016, suggesting potential risk of female to male transmission.
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The virus can cause serious birth defects if the mother is infected during pregnancy, according to the CDC. These problems can include inflammation of the optic nerve, retinal damage or blindness after birth, the study authors noted. Fewer know Zika can be spread through sex (58%), and Americans 18 to 40 years old still have key gaps in awareness, including a lack of knowledge about recommendations to delay pregnancy if potentially exposed to the virus.
After 28 days, the researchers tested the infected mice and found that the animals’ tears contained Zika’s RNA – the genetic material from the virus – but not infectious virus.
Mouse research can be a catalyst for research in people, but the results do not necessarily translate the same way.
Last week, WHO declared that the continued spread of Zika it has now infected more than 70 countries and territories remains a global health emergency.
In other key developments, USA lawmakers returned to Washington, DC, today after a 7-week summer break and have 4 weeks to act on a Zika funding bill before they break again in advance of the November elections, while Florida today reported seven more locally acquired Zika infections.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more information on mosquito-borne diseases.
The findings confirm that Zika is able to travel to the eye.
The virus’s link to microcephaly among babies born to infected mothers was deemed to be a public health emergency of worldwide concern by WHO earlier this year.
“We think that the risk for travellers and athletes is low, but it’s not zero”, said World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic. And now they can add one more big one: the Zika virus.
“This is the first time we have identified Aedes mosquitoes in the San Fernando Valley, which increases the risk of a Zika, dengue fever, chikungunya and yellow fever outbreak in the area”, Sun said.
This discovery had raised the possibility that the infection may spread through tears.
A strain of Zika now circulating in Latin America has been proven to cause brain and head abnormalities in newborns.
Sources: March of Dimes; September 6, 2016; March of Dimes/NORC Report; September 2016.
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“Everybody is working flat out”, he said, with MRCU staff even working over the weekend to treat preschools while the children are not there.
