Health officials say a travel-related case of Zika virus has been confirmed in Travis County.
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His action came as the mosquito-borne virus generates increasing concern in the United States. They stressed that there was no risk to a developing fetus in this instance. The bugs inject virus right into the blood stream – an extremely efficient way of spreading risky germs through the body.
Frieden added that studies on sexual transmission are not easy studies to do, but the CDC is continuing to explore that avenue of transmission.
Now, in the wake of the Dallas case, “we’re all kind of scrambling in the scientific community how best to tackle this and how best to research it”, said Foy. “The bottom line is mosquitoes are the real culprit here”. She did not provide any other details.
Scott said he wanted the state to be prepared for the chance that the virus could start to be spread from mosquito to person within the state.
The state had a spike in dengue cases in 2013, with 22 people contracting the virus in Martin County.
Brigina Kemp, a top health official in the Brazilian city of Campinas, told The Associated Press that a gunshot victim and a transplant patient each tested positive for Zika after receiving blood transfusions from different donors.
“This virus, which only recently arrived in Brazil and Latin America, no longer is a distant nightmare but a real threat to all Brazilians’ homes”, Rousseff said in a nationally televised message. While Zika has been found in breast milk, it’s not yet confirmed it can be passed to a baby through nursing.
It is now spreading through the Americas- Latin America and Caribbean countries.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that pregnant women consider postponing trips to outbreak regions until more is known.
A pregnant woman is among the seven people identified as being infected with the Zika virus in Spain after visiting affected countries. Colombia has also seen a rise in the number of patients diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder which can cause paralysis.
On Wednesday, Canadian health officials announced that people who have travelled outside of Canada, the continental United States and Europe will be ineligible to give blood for 21 days after their return.
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“The Zika infection is only transmitted via Aedes mosquitoes and not by human-to-human contact, except possibly, very rarely, by sexual means”, he said.
