The case involved a person who had traveled to Venezuela in December, health department spokeswoman Mara Gambineri said Tuesday in an email.
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The travel alert targets pregnant women and those who want to become pregnant and follows reports that thousands of babies in Brazil were born a year ago with microcephaly, a brain disorder experts associate with Zika exposure. In those that do, the worst of it involves fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes – which usually lasts no more than a week.
The Zika virus causes mild flu-like symptoms. It is not transmitted from person to person. But the CDC estimates 80% of people infected with the virus have no symptoms, which is why pregnant women without symptoms should be given an ultrasound to check their developing fetus for microcephaly or intracranial calcifications.
Zika virus is spread to people through mosquito bites. Two pregnant IL women have tested posistive for the virus after traveling to Honduras and Haiti. It is spread through bites from the same kind of mosquitoes that can spread other tropical diseases, like chikungunya and dengue fever.
Also on Friday, DOH confirmed that laboratory confirmation from the CDC that a past Zika virus infection in a baby recently born with microcephaly in an Oahu hospital.
Only the CDC and a few states are equipped to perform the testing, according to the CDC, which says it will confirm all tests it receives. It has been found in some pockets of the islands and is blamed for an ongoing outbreak on the Big Island of the dengue virus, which is spread the same way as Zika. It’s especially problematic in Brazil, where it’s appears to be connected to a serious birth defect.
Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, last week called the Zika outbreak “an explosive pandemic” that he warned could soon jump to the U.S.
Scientists are not sure what’s going on, but the CDC is advising pregnant women to delay their trips to those 14 areas at least until after the baby is born.
There is no specific treatment for Zika virus.
Travelers heading to the previously mentioned nations are advised to use insect repellent, wear long-sleeved clothing and hats and sleep under mosquito nets.
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Dr. Marc Siegel, an associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, thinks a travel warning is wise, but said people shouldn’t assume they will get infected if they visit Brazil.
