Diagnostic tests looking for Zika antibodies are limited because the findings closely resemble dengue, a related virus common in Brazil.
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The Daily Wildcat: What is the Zika virus and what are some signs and symptoms to watch out for?
Members of the Dallas City Council Quality of Life and Environmental Committee will hear a proposal Monday morning from Assistant City Manager Joey Zapata to begin the city’s public education campaign on March 1.
Colombian health officials are tracking a cohort of about 2,000 pregnant women who have contracted Zika to see if their babies are born with abnormally small heads, according to the Pan American Health Organization. From Brazil, most of south America, Central America, Mexico, and some Caribbean Islands have now reported the virus.
The study’s design should help determine the relative risk of microcephaly in babies whose mothers were infected with Zika.
The first case was confirmed in May 2015 in Brazil. The symptoms reportedly last for about two to seven days.
But one thing we do know about Zika is, 80-percent of all people who get it don’t even know because the symptoms are so mild. It has been witnessing an outbreak of a rare nerve disorder known as Guillain-Barre syndrome which can cause extreme paralysis and the outbreak is being associated with the Zika virus. A panel of experts spoke Saturday about the prevention, care, and transmission of the mosquito-borne Zika virus at a community forum hosted by the UC Davis Health System. Scientists have found strains of the virus in the amniotic fluid of pregnant women carrying babies with microcephaly, in the brain tissue of infants with microcephaly, and in the placenta of mothers who have miscarried infants with the said condition.
“The second country in line is Colombia because we were the second country after Brazil [to report cases of Zika]”, Espinal said. The CDC recommend that travelers to these areas try to protect themselves from mosquito bites and to use condoms, because the disease can spread via sexual contact.
After that, the virus – which is transmitted through the bite of the Aedes mosquito – became endemic in parts of Africa and South East Asia.
Both diseases have no specific treatment or vaccine.
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DW: What precautions can students at the University of Arizona take to prevent possible infection?
