Osceola County was the first county in Central Florida to report a Zika case on February 5.
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“The patient travelled to Colombia”.
Officials say the patient’s symptoms have been resolved. “For genetically modified mosquitoes, the WHO Advisory Group has recommended further field trials and risk assessment to evaluate the impact of this new tool on disease transmission”, the statements said, adding that trials in the Cayman Islands have shown significant reductions in the A. aegypti population there. “We want to take this opportunity to reinforce that travelers to any of the countries with active Zika transmission should follow precautions to minimize their exposure to mosquito bites”. All of those cases involved travellers who had returned home infected.
The World Health Organization says it may be necessary to use controversial methods like genetically modified mosquitoes to wipe out the insects that are spreading the Zika virus across the Americas.
Brazil, the country hardest-hit by Zika, has about 508 confirmed cases of microcephaly and is investigating about 3,935 suspected cases.
“That includes working with the Public Health Agency of Canada to ensure that individuals presenting with symptoms are tested as quickly as possible”, he said.
Pregnant women are advised to delay travel to Zika-affected areas.
Ontario has its first confirmed case of the mosquito-borne Zika virus as the winter vacation season to warmer climes hits high gear.
“The general public is not at risk of contracting this virus because the mosquitoes that transmit Zika are not established in Iowa”, said IDPH Medical Director, Dr. Patricia Quinlisk in the release.
Pregnant women and those trying to conceive should talk to their healthcare provider to assess whether to postpone travel to areas where the Zika virus is circulating in the Americas.
Zika has been linked to microcephaly in babies, who are born with damaged brains and abnormally small heads.
“This does not still prove causation… but it is an increasing accumulation of evidence in terms of the temporal-geographic association of the virus and the consequences that we are anxious about”, he told a news briefing.
The University of Manchester has issued a notice to students advising them to check the status of the disease in particular areas before planning to travel. It upped its travel recommendations, too.
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WHO has declared a global health emergency due to the virus, saying it could produce as many as 4 million cases in the next year.
