Health authorities in Utah are investigating a unique case of Zika found in a person who had been caring for a relative who had an unusually high level of the virus in his blood. Zika can also be spread through sexual relations.
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In the latest update from two CDC Zika pregnancy registries, the agency said 54 more infections linked to travel have been reported from U.S. states, lifting the number to 400.
Zika is usually transmitted by the bite of a mosquito, but it can also be spread through sex, blood transfusions or exposure in a laboratory.
Zika virus spreads to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus), although Aedes aegypti are more likely to spread Zika.
“We continue to investigate and have not ruled out travel or sexual transmission at this time”, Florida spokeswoman Mara Gambineri said in an email on Thursday.
Mosquito control says that they went into that mobile home park and used mosquito foggers to spray underneath the trailers and around the community.
Miami-Dade County leads the state in confirmed Zika cases, with 92, but all of those cases are travel-related.
The Florida Department of Health called the new case “a possible non-travel related case”. That could help determine whether a local woman is the first person infected directly by a mosquito bite on the US mainland.
In addition, OneBlood will stop collecting blood in the ZIP code where the Miami-Dade individual lives if the case turns out to be locally acquired, the blood center said Thursday.
In Manatee County, mosquito control workers say they are not taking chances. “Health departments need to have a sustained source of funding”.
Tests came back negative for Zika in that case in Ellenton, but there is one confirmed case of the Zika virus in Manatee County.
But officials don’t appear to be in a panic, despite the lack of funding from Congress. Florida Governor Rick Scott recently allocated $26.2 million for CDC Zika prevention kits (which includes a mosquito net, spray, and condoms), mosquito surveillance and abatement, and training for mosquito control technicians.
“Our study indicates that A. aegypti was the principal carrier of Zika virus in the Tapachula area of Chiapas State, based on the detection of virus in several mosquito pools and the prior demonstrated transmission competence of this species of mosquito”, said Weaver.
“If you multiply the cases we’ve had to date with the potential cases, we’ve already spent $50,000 to $60,000 this year”.
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“I think these early cases don’t give us a clue yet to the total number of cases that might be found”, he said.
