UVM is collaborating with the National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins University to learn more about Zika’s biology, the way it assaults the cells of developing fetuses, and how adults’ bodies produce an immune response to it.
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A quarter of the public thinks that US athletes should withdraw from the Olympics in Brazil because of concerns about the Zika virus, according to a new Associated Press poll.
There is no specific medicine or vaccine for Zika virus, which causes symptoms such as fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes lasting from a week to 10 days, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pregnant women are strongly advised to protect themselves from mosquito bites.
But the virus can be spread from a pregnant woman to her fetus, and it has been linked to a serious birth defect called microcephaly, distinguished by small heads, among babies born to mothers infected with Zika.
Burwell said there are 672 confirmed cases in US territories such as Puerto Rico and the United States, including 64 pregnant women.
Both counties already trap groups of mosquitoes and forward them to the state for testing.
This individual recently traveled out of the country to Central America and had a mild case of Zika.
An outbreak investigation team has been deployed to conduct a full epidemiological investigation into the cases, and all efforts are being undertaken to limit the risk of further transmission.
Because of evidence the Zika virus can also be transmitted through semen, the CDC is advising people who may have been exposed to wait at least eight weeks to attempt to conceive.
Zika, classified by health experts as an emerging arbovirus, spreads much the same as West Nile Virus or any mosquito-borne illness: through the propagation and bites of infected mosquitoes. This mosquito can be found in many states.
Miami-Dade and Broward counties are reporting the highest numbers of Zika cases, accounting for more than half of all cases in the state. Health officials confirmed one case of Zika-related microcephaly in Hawaii. Previous cases were reported in residents of Madison and Noxubee counties who also traveled to Haiti. Wear long-sleeved shirts and long trousers.
“And they have sickened hundreds of thousands more”, he said.
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Florida officials recommended that women who are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant to postpone travel to Zika-affected areas. Additional updates will be issued as information becomes available, it said.
