To prevent sexual transmission of the Zika virus, USA federal health officials are recommending that both pregnant women and their male sexual partners who live in or have traveled to an area with active spread of the Zika virus use condoms during sex or abstain from sexual activity for the duration of pregnancy.
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Douglas County Health Department Director Dr. Adi Pour said these reports are a reminder to travelers headed to Zika-affected countries, especially pregnant women, to take precautions to prevent mosquito bites.
Mosquito Control is trapping mosquitoes near where the patients live and will send those bugs to the Department of Health to test for Zika.
While symptoms are usually mild or nonexistent for most people diagnosed with the disease, Zika has led to Guillain-Barré syndrome, a disorder that causes the body’s immune system to attack the nervous system, in rare cases.
U.K.’s public health minister, Jane Ellison, said, according to the Guardian: “Disinsection is a highly precautionary measure to reduce the risk to passengers during flights to the United Kingdom I want to reassure people that the risk to the United Kingdom population is extremely low”.
The Zika virus is getting global attention after infecting thousands of people in Central and South America, and particularly because it is suspected of causing birth defects, though that link has not been confirmed. Cases of Zika infection through blood transfusion were recently reported by health officials in Brazil.
Brazil, which has reported over 400 cases of the defect since October previous year – up from 147 in 2014 – has said it would send at least 220,000 troops across the country to conduct a “house-to-house” operation for uprooting the virus. “Presence of virus in saliva doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily transmissible that way”. The agency’s priority is pregnant women because of how the virus effects the fetus’ developing brain.
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The aedes mosquito has been identified as the carrier of the Zika virus. The World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency in connection to the outbreak.
