Texas has reported two confirmed travel-related cases of Zika virus disease in the state, both in the southeast Texas area. The CDC has advised pregnant women to not travel to areas in South and Central America affected with Zika. The Aedes Aegypti mosquito that also carries the dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya viruses transmits Zika Virus.
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The disease has been linked to a serious birth defect called microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with small heads and underdeveloped brains.
The National Health Institute said that 1,050 of Colombia’s Zika infection cases were confirmed by laboratory tests, 17,115 by clinical exams, and 2,132 were suspected cases.
The W.H.O. announced it will hold an emergency meeting to try to figure out how to stop the transmission of the Zika virus which is “spreading explosively across the Americas”.
Does the Zika virus cause birth defects when a pregnant woman is infected?
Thirty-one cases of Zika virus have been identified in the United States, Xinhua reported on Friday.
“Quebecers who travel to countries where the virus and mosquitoes are present may be exposed and develop symptoms of infection when they return home”, Arruda explained.
There is no vaccine or medicine to prevent or treat it and the virus could spread in India if an affected person travels from Brazil to India.
He said if women can’t delay their trips they need to take precautions.
Officials say the patient in Boston is expected to survive – and even though Americans have been diagnosed with Zika, there’s no evidence that anyone got infected by a mosquito in the U.S. There are so far no reports of death from the disease in the country. The virus spreads through mosquito bites, with the most common symptoms being fever, rash and joint pain. (It was traced to the Zika forest, hence the name.) Until a year ago, the Zika virus was mostly confined to Asia and Africa, but then it made the leap to the Western hemisphere.
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“What we are seeing, the handful of cases we’ve had are imported”, said Coastal Health District Health Director Doctor Diane Weems.
