“There is virtually no risk to IL residents, since you can not contract Zika virus from another person, but only through the bite of an infected mosquito”, said IDPH Director Nirav D. Shah in a statement.
Advertisement
Thus, Zika is not generally a fatal disease, but women who become sick in their first trimester of pregnancy have been found to give birth to babies with abnormally small skulls, a condition known as microcephaly.
On Tuesday, Illinois said two pregnant women tested positive for the virus after traveling to countries where Zika is found. Physicians are monitoring their health and pregnancies.
They are Brazil, Barbados, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guyana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Surinam and Venezuela.
The CDC advises that pregnant women should postpone travel to any area where there are reports of Zika virus outbreak. The virus is spread through mosquito bites. The company will release these genetically modified mosquitoes in the wild to decrease the populations of the Aedes aegypti that spreads Zika virus, dengue fever and chikungunya.
The Department of Health hopes to reassure Florida citizens that none of the cases were locally-acquired, but are hoping people take proper precautions from the mosquite-borne virus. Lab tests revealed the presence of the Zika virus. Zika causes only a mild illness in most people.
The virus often produces flu-like symptoms (fever, headaches and joint pain) as well as skin rashes and conjunctivitis.
US health officials are reporting new cases of a mosquito-borne virus linked to birth defects. Doctors treating pregnant women who test positive for the disease are advised to administer ultrasounds every three to four weeks to monitor fetal growth.
Researchers in Brazil are working on a vaccine to prevent Zika but there is no treatment available. In 2015, the South American county has 3,500 cases of microcephaly, and 46 babies died. To date, Zika virus has been reported in several countries and territories in the Americas.
Pregnant women with two or more symptoms should undergo a blood test for the virus.
Pregnant women who traveled in areas where Zika is active but have no clinical symptoms should also be offered an ultrasound, and women whose fetus shows signs of microcephaly should also be offered amniocentesis.
Advertisement
The Zika virus is nothing new, but health officials fear the infections are behind an exponential increase of babies born with birth defects in Brazil.
