The onset of warmer weather has authorities advising people concerned about Zika to take steps to avoid mosquitoes and ticks known to be carry other diseases, such as West Nile virus and Lyme disease. The virus is suspected to cause microcephaly in newborn children. Angela Minicuci, with the department of health and human services, says it’s those woman who need to be the most careful. “Obviously, we’re going to do mosquito control here in the U.S. So we’re going to interrupt Zika transmission”. “Anyone who is traveling to an area where the virus is found should be extra vigilant about protecting yourself against mosquito bites”.
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In the first two months of 2016, just as the CDC and the World Health Organization began to sound the alarm about the fast-spreading Zika virus, more than 3,300 pregnant women in the USA were tested for Zika virus infections. There have been 358 cases of travel-related Zika virus in the United States to date. But officials are closely monitoring states such as Hawaii, Florida, and Texas, which in recent years have had local outbreaks of similar diseases including dengue fever.
Zika virus has caused microcephaly, a serious birth defect of the brain, in babies of mothers who had the virus while pregnant, and may cause other severe fetal brain defects. In layman terms, it’s a scientific equation that predicts the average number of people who will catch a disease from another infected person during an outbreak.
Nobody has been infected with Zika from a mosquito bite occurring in the 50 states. But none of the hundreds of samples tested from Wisconsin travelers has been positive. Unfortunately, many experts believe that the spread of Zika virus in the USA this summer seems inevitable as well. The home counties of the pregnant women have not been disclosed. “And periodically, we have a small outbreak”, Lillibridge says.
“Never before have our federal officials told women in particular regions of the United States not to become pregnant”, said Dr. Holly Phillips, CBS News Medical Contributor.
We once again encourage Congress to act swiftly to pass emergency funding to enhance our public health preparedness and enable America’s researchers to lead the charge in the development of a vaccine or treatment for this virus.
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“If you’re pregnant, the consequences for the fetus are not mild”, Osmundson said.
