ODH lab tests that indicate a Zika virus infection will be considered suspected cases until confirmed by CDC, when ODH will report them as confirmed cases, according to a health department news release. People with Zika virus disease usually have a mild fever, skin rash, and conjunctivitis, which usually lasts for between two to seven days.
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The new results support the idea that pregnant women who become infected with the Zika virus in the first trimester of pregnancy may have the highest risk of giving birth to babies with the condition, compared with women who become infected later in their pregnancies, researchers said. For pregnant women, the virus could lead to the baby developing microcephaly, which is a serious birth defect that causes a baby’s head to be much smaller than it should be.
More than a dozen cases of sexual transmission in the United States and France, and one case of suspected transmission through a blood transfusion in Brazil, raise questions about other ways that Zika may spread.
Despite the concern over the increasing number of Zika cases in the country, US doctors remain calm in the face of the virus. The Aedes aegypti mosquito has been the bug that has spread the most amount of Zika cases.
A young Havana woman is the first known person to have contracted the Zika virus in Cuba, authorities said on Tuesday.
FILE – In this Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 file photo, Gleyse Kelly da Silva, 27, holds her daughter Maria Giovanna, who was born with microcephaly, outside their house in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil.
President Raul Castro had announced that 9,000 soldiers and 200 other members of the security forces were assigned to cope with the Zika virus, which is carried by mosquitoes, following an initial outbreak.
“We think that about 80 percent of people infected show no symptoms at all”, Cauchemez said in an interview.
The most recent two cases were reported in Jefferson and Shelby counties.
Freedman cautioned that the 1 per cent absolute risk may not apply in other countries where Zika is spreading.
To reduce the risk of microcephaly, pregnant women and those of childbearing age should avoid travel to affected countries.
A laboratory test called real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) can pick up the virus in blood samples collected within a week of symptom onset, ODH said.
The CDC, however, noted that severe effects of Zika have been recorded among pregnant women, especially on the developing fetus.
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According to Peter Norton, medical director for the Abilene Health Department, there isn’t a need to worry about the virus if proper precautions are taken when traveling to high-risk areas.
