The Zika virus is rarely fatal, and it is usually treated with bed rest and liquids.
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The CDC says it will issue guidance in the coming days on prevention of sexual transmission of Zika virus, focusing on the male sexual partners of women who are or may be pregnant.
The District of Columbia Department of Health has confirmed three cases of the Zika virus, according to The Washington Post and several other media outlets.
The Department of Health declined to specify the gender of the newly infected adult, other than to say it wasn’t a pregnant woman.
The virus is transmitted mainly through the bite of the Aedes aegypti species of mosquito. In most people, it causes mild or no symptoms.
Fourteen officials from the region, including Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Castro, whose country has been hit hardest by the virus, held emergency talks in Montevideo, Uruguay Wednesday.
More information on the state’s testing program is available at 1-888-364-4723 or on the state Department of Health’s website.
Travis County health officials on Thursday confirmed the first case of the Zika virus in the county.
In the face of the recent increase in cases, the presidents of the United States and Brazil have agreed on the importance of collaborative efforts to combat the spread of the Zika virus. Pregnant women are especially advised to avoid travel to infected areas because Zika is tied to microcephaly – a condition where an infant is born with a smaller-than-normal brain and head size. Those areas include Puerto Rico, Mexico and countries in the Carribean, Central American and South America.
“However, I’m one to believe that unless there’s more proof of that and we verify that, as of right now, it’s just one case”.
The disease was previously thought to have been passed only by the Aedes mosquito, and not from human-to-human.
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The meeting focused on ways to control the mosquito population spreading the virus, though reports of a USA patient catching the disease by having sex fuelled fears that it will not be easy to contain.
