Zika virus contributed to the death of a Salt Lake County resident last month.
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“This unfortunate situation is a tragic reminder of how important it is to receive proper pre-travel education and to protect yourself from mosquitoes when traveling overseas”, said Dr Dagmar Vitek, medical director for Salt Lake County health department in a statement.
In April, the CDC reported the first USA death from Zika occurring in a patient infected with the virus in Puerto Rico.
The Salt Lake County health department said the elderly person had an underlying health condition.
A researcher from Florida looks through a microscope at the Zika Virus causing Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
Several Pennsylvania residents are known to have contracted the virus, mostly acquired by mosquito bites, while traveling overseas.
Health officials nationwide say that that everyone should take precautions to avoid mosquito bites, including wearing long sleeves and using repellent.
The first Zika-related death in the continental United States has been confirmed in Utah, The Guardian reported on Saturday. Sexual transmission also has been documented.
The CDC is advising everyone planning to travel overseas, especially pregnant women, to check if Zika is spreading in your planned destination. All cases except one were acquired through travel to a Zika-affected area.
A weekly report from Canadian health authorities on Thursday said 144 Canadians have the Zika virus. If the number of people infected gets worse, the state may ask health departments to test local mosquitoes for the presence of the Zika virus.
Symptoms of both West Nile Virus and EEE include headaches, fevers and chills. Some of these people who have not traveled, were infected through sex with their partner back from these regions. Zika also has been linked to Guillain-Barré syndrome, an uncommon sickness of the nervous system in which a person’s immune system damages the nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis.
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While the actual illness caused by Zika infection is for the most part mild, public health officials are mainly concerned about the impact Zika infection could have on unborn babies.
