Share

Latest Zika Puzzle: How U.S. Patient Infected Caregiver

CDC recommends that pregnant women should avoid traveling to Zika affected areas.

Advertisement

“In an abundance of caution, and an attempt to combat Aedes mosquitos, crews from Vector Disease Control International, a private company hired by the City of Lewisville, will conduct mosquito spraying/fogging in the areas closely surrounding the infected resident’s house”. That man died in late June and was the first death of a Zika-infected in the continental U.S. His age and another health condition made his exact cause of death unclear.

DCPH advises recent travelers with Zika virus symptoms, as well as individuals diagnosed with Zika virus, to protect themselves from further mosquito bites, and also to practice safe sex.

The Florida Health Department “is actively conducting an epidemiological investigation”, a statement said, after the possible case emerged in Miami-Dade County. The case has baffled health authorities in the USA, as the man did not contract the virus through any of the known paths of transmission.

There have been no cases of people being infected from mosquitoes in the continental U.S. Information about both patients is being withheld for reasons of medical privacy. Now, however, there might be a third way the Zika can be contracted, possibly through contact with the bodily fluids of somebody infected with the virus. The new case was discovered after a doctor noticed the caregiver’s Zika-like symptoms, which include rash, fever and pink eye, officials said.

The virus causes only a mild illness in most people. The two types of mosquitoes known to carry Zika virus are the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus species.

“This third case shows on ongoing risk when traveling overseas”, Dr. Matt Richardson, the county’s Director of Public Health, said in a statement. Florida has 43 pregnant women who have caught the virus, including one woman who gave birth to a baby with microcephaly, or an under-developed brain, as a result.

The caregiver has since recovered from the infection, which is primarily transmitted by mosquitoes but can also be passed on through sexual contact.

The current Zika outbreak was first detected in Brazil previous year and has spread through the Americas by mosquito, but has yet to reach the continental United States in that manner.

Advertisement

There have been more than 1,300 Zika cases in the United States. The patient, who was elderly with health problems, died last month and had traveled to an area where Zika was spreading.

The aedes mosquito