An infant has been born in New York City with Zika-triggered microcephaly, raising fears that the number of such cases within the continental United States will skyrocket throughout the summer.
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Officials in Florida are concerned about how much the Zika response will cost. Florida has asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assist in its investigation that must also rule out sexual transmission. The CDC said Zika illness is general mild – coming with a rash, fever and joint pain.
“I think we absolutely have to prepare for the fact that there could be more cases in Florida that are suspicious”, said U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy.
“Now if they get lucky and find it, that’s entirely confirmatory”, Hotez added.
Officials did not give other details about the person who was infected.
The scientists, from a leading Brazilian research institute known as the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, discovered the Zika traces in Culex mosquitoes captured in and around the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife, capital of the state that was hit hardest by the Zika outbreak since a year ago. They found the virus in three pools of mosquitoes.
If Culex can spread Zika, that would be more troubling.
The case is the third reported in Montana since the virus turned up in the Western Hemisphere in May 2015, according to Lewis and Clark Public Health. And given A. aegypti’s presence in Florida, officials are concerned that Zika is spreading from within the state, and not necessarily spreading from people who contracted the disease while overseas.
The best protection against the virus is prevention: cover up, wear insect repellent day and night, empty water from all containers in lawns at least once a week to halt the mosquito breeding cycle, and use screens on windows and doors if the air-conditioning is not running. “They’re wriggling around”, he says.
Shelly Redovan with Lee County Mosquito Control said they’re waiting to learn more information but said the county already sprays for the common house mosquito, which is already known to spread West Nile Virus.
Florida non-profit blood bank OneBlood will start testing donated blood for the Zika virus, its representatives announced Thursday.
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And malaria, caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, is spread by entirely different species of mosquito, mostly Anopheles. Statewide, 306 travel-related cases have been confirmed among people who are not pregnant and 47 travel-related cases have been confirmed among pregnant women. It causes severe birth defects in babies if the mother is infected while pregnant.
