Florida’s Department of Health is investigating one case of Zika in Miami-Dade County and another in Broward County that was not related to travel.
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The CDC this week announced almost $60 million in stopgap funding to divide between states and territories for local Zika efforts, but its officials also stressed that more money is crucial. Statewide, 306 travel-related cases have been confirmed among people who are not pregnant and 47 travel-related cases have been confirmed among pregnant women.
According to the CDC, there have been 12 cases of Zika-related microcephaly in the USA, and there have been 400 lab-confirmed cases of pregnant women with Zika, out of a total of 1,400 confirmed cases overall. It causes birth defects such as microcephaly when women are infected during pregnancy.
Researchers collected 500 mosquitoes and divided them into pools of between 1 and 10 mosquitoes.
For example, babies born without a functional sucking reflex may never develop the ability to swallow and will need to be fed through a feeding tube.
The Obama Administration has requested $1.9 billion that public health experts identified as necessary to combat Zika and protect the homeland, but the budget has not been approved by Congress.
Less obvious damage to structures on only one side of the brain may cause seizure disorders that do not appear until adolescence, Trevathan said.
“Florida is investigating a case of non-travel associated Zika, they are exploring several options including whether mosquitoes in the south Florida area might be implicated”, Tom Skinner, a CDC Spokesperson told CBS 46. Neither mother nor child is presently capable of spreading the virus to others or to mosquitoes in the area.
She has since recovered but the potential effects on the fetus are not yet known, said Utah County Health Department spokeswoman Aislynn Tolman-Hill.
In the event of a locally transmitted Zika outbreak, the CDC will advise community health departments to intensify surveillance and mosquito control and reach out to residents to prevent further infections.
That includes surveying households and neighbors within a 150-yard radius around the residence of the person who has Zika.
Aedes aegypti has different breeding, feeding and overall habits that scientists say make it an efficient vector for the disease in humans. The baby’s mother was infected while in an area with ongoing Zika transmission. All cases reported as of July 22 in the US have been associated with travel to a Zika-affected area.
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The CDC will award Louisiana $2.4 million in funding to help fight Zika.
