Four-hundred twenty-five local, state and federal health officials and experts in maternal medicine and mosquito control spent the day at the agency’s headquarters getting the latest information and sharing ideas. Zika infections have been implicated as a cause of microcephaly and severe congenital deformities when pregnant women have been infected.
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“No one knows at this point whether or not the mosquitos in this region will become infected”, Levin said.
Thousands of children in Brazil have been born with the condition, sparking alarm about a virus that today remains poorly understood by global scientists.
A transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of Zika virus, which is a member of the family Flaviviridae is seen in this undated image from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The university’s observations are based on the case of a woman infected while visiting Central America during her 11th week of pregnancy.
The Santa Clara County resident also caught the virus while traveling and was not pregnant.
“There are many things at this summit that will be decided, determined, and moved forward in terms of state and localities doing more”, he said.
The Obama administration in February requested almost $2 billion in emergency funding for Zika response work.
Yet, Zika differs from other flaviviruses as it invades the nervous system or the developing foetus.
The Health Ministry revealed on March 29 that cases of the birth defect strongly linked with the mosquito-borne Zika virus now number 5,235 in the week through March 25, up from 5,200 just a week earlier.
Nealy one-third (31%) thought, incorrectly, that Zika could be spread by coughing and sneezing.
“As of Tuesday evening, most of the cases in the continental USA have been travel associated, so there’s not been any de novo infection in the continental USA that we are aware of”, Levin said. In adults, the virus has been linked to the typically rare autoimmune disorder, Guillain-Barre syndrome.
“Our models confirm the epidemic has peaked”, said Marta Lucia Ospina, director of Colombia’s National Health Institute. While researchers have made some progress in identifying Zika traits that differentiate it from other flaviviruses, including mapping the structure of the virus at the near-atomic level, a vaccine and reliable tests are still months away.
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CDC has received reports of Zika virus being spread by sexual contact with sick returning travelers.
