The Health Department says mosquitoes that cause Zika aren’t out when you would expect them to be.
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Pregnant women, those trying to become pregnant and their partners should take seriously travel warnings related to the virus, according to a news release from the Wyoming Department of Health.
There is now active transmission of the virus in more than 20 central and South American countries.
Dr. Irma Asuncion, head of the DOH Epidemiology Bureau, defined suspected cases as patients with three major symptoms-fever, conjunctivitis and skin rash-plus any of the following that can not be explained by other medical conditions: headache, myalgia or muscle pain, malaise, joint pain, retro-orbital pain or pain that occurs behind the orbit of the eye. Co-authorDr Simon Cauchemez has been quoted in the release as saying, “We estimated that the risk of microcephaly was 1 in 100 women infected with Zika virus during the first trimester of pregnancy”.
Microcephaly isn’t a new birth defect, though awareness of the condition has surged in the wake of Zika infections in Brazil and elsewhere in the Americas that have led to health officials advising women in some countries to delay pregnancy.
Brazilian ambassador to Ghana Irene Vida Gala has warned pregnant women against traveling to Rio for this year’s Olympic Games due to the Zika Virus.
First case of the Zika virus was reported in Cuba where the virus was contracted within the country, Cuba’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday. Over that period, more than 31,000 people saw their doctor with suspected Zika virus infection.
Health Sec. Vickie Yates Brown Glisson assured the public the state is coordinating its response with the Centers for Disease Control of Prevention. Across Florida, Miami-Dade records the most number of Zika Cases with 28 confirmed cases as of Monday.
However, much remains unknown about Zika, including whether the virus actually causes microcephaly in babies.
In French Polynesia, 66 percent of the population was infected by Zika during the course of the outbreak, according to the study. “We know that mosquitoes don’t exist at the top of Mount Everest”.
“We’ve been prepared for Zika virus to have a case here and working with health care providers across the state to respond to both suspected and confirmed cases”, Sparks says.
“They usually bite during the day time”, Casey said.
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Cuba has thrown more than 9,000 soldiers, police and university students into an effort to fumigate for mosquitoes, wipe out the standing water where they breed and prevent a Zika epidemic.
