According to Public Health Canada, the overall risk in Canada is very low because mosquitos known to transit the disease can’t survive in our climate.
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The agency says travellers returning from Zika-affected countries and their sexual partners need to take precautions to protect themselves against the virus.
According to the Arkansas Department of Health, there have now been four confirmed cases of Zika virus in Arkansas.
It said the spread of the Zika virus in South America was an “extraordinary event” and there could be up to four million cases in the region this year.
However, people who have shown symptoms have reported fever, red rash, joint pain, headache and pink eye.
The guidance, issued Friday, will continue to be updated as new information related to Zika virus transmission and its health effects becomes available, but the agencies issued several recommendations for certain classes of workers and business travelers.
So far in Dallas, the six confirmed cases of the virus have been transmitted sexually or by a mosquito from overseas.
Women that are planning a pregnancy, it is strongly recommended that you wait for at least 2 months before trying to conceive to ensure that any possible Zika virus infection has cleared your body. The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.
Though the only four Zika cases in Oklahoma were contracted during travel to impacted countries, the county got traps created to carry the mosquitos that are known carriers of the virus.
Zika virus first appeared in Brazil in May of 2015.
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However, the virus had been potentially linked in Brazil to thousands of cases of abnormally small heads in infants born to women who were infected while pregnant. If travel can not be avoided or postponed, strict mosquito-bite prevention measures should be taken because of the risk of serious health effects on the unborn baby.
