In a new risk-assessment report, the CDC found that since the games are occurring during winter in Brazil, the cooler, drier weather will reduce mosquito populations, thus lowering the chance of Zika transmission to visiting athletes and spectators.
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“Our central goal is protecting unborn babies from Zika”, said Dr. Hellerstedt.
Zika virus is spread primarily through the bite of the Aedes species mosquito. People who do have symptoms have reported fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes.
“The objective of this study is to determine the frequency, duration and pattern of Zika virus shedding in semen and urine of infected men”, a CDC press officer told U.S. News in an email.
Zika infections have been reported in dozens of countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. Mosquitoes can also spread chikungunya more quickly than Zika.
The Zika virus is usually a mild disease but it has been linked to microcephaly, a birth defect that causes the baby’s head to be small and not fully developed. “Our scientists can test up to 300 pools of mosquitoes per week, but if a public health threat is identified we can deploy an automated system that can process more than double that number per week to more quickly identify impacted areas”. For every baby born with microcephaly, there could be 10 to 100 more born with subtle damage related to Zika, Hotez said. Health officials have said the virus also can be transmitted sexually.
However, in Colombia a huge increase in Zika infections among pregnant women since August 2015 has not been accompanied by a surge in microencephaly. “This means by the time we have vaccines ready to be tested, there may not be enough cases of Zika in the community to test if the vaccine works”.
No one seems to know why Zika has bypassed the Big Bend. The CDC said 346 of the cases in US states and another 303 in American territories such as Puerto Rico, where mosquitoes now are carrying the virus, involved pregnant women as of July 7.
However, the Bell county epidemiologist and preparedness team is conducting mosquito surveillance and providing public health education information.
“Despite knowing about this disease for almost 70 years, we were completely surprised and rushing to discover the very basic things about it when it invaded the Americas”, Lessler said. Congress has haggled for months, but progress appeared possible earlier this week when Democrats said they would agree to budget cuts to pay for a $1.1 billion Republican proposal, if Republicans would agree to remove provisions preventing Planned Parenthood affiliates in Puerto Rico from receiving Zika funding.
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Williams said the state health department is now fighting Zika with $3.5 million in federal money.
