No native NY mosquito is known to be able to transmit the Zika virus, but the possibility remains.
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The larvicide tablets will be placed throughout the region, and the state will deploy traps in 1,000 locations per month.
Wadsworth Laboratory – already a national leader in Zika testing – will expand its testing capacity to accommodate the additional trapping. A photo of a Zika protection kit is available here. Pregnant women or those thinking of becoming pregnant are advised to postpone travel to Zika-affected areas. Men who’ve traveled out of the country should be careful with their sexual partners, she said. However, scientists are investigating whether contracting the disease during pregnancy can lead to microcephaly, a rare birth defect characterized by an abnormally small head and brain damage.
“It means you have a 99 percent chance of having a normal baby”, Dr. Laura Rodrigues, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told The New York Times.
The health official expressed the authorities’ desire to continue with a thorough investigation of 15 cases in particular where there is a suspected link with the Zika virus in order to reach a definitive conclusion.
Issue emergency regulations requiring local Zika control plans upon Zika confirmation.
The state’s anti-Zika efforts will be focused on New York City, Long Island and Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Ulster, Putnam and Dutchess counties, officials said. Of the 66 confirmed cases in Florida, seven people still show symptoms, the department’s announcement said. That isn’t surprising. Mosquito-borne viruses rely on mosquitoes, which rely on warm weather and standing water, and these are hot places. The researchers’ findings indicate that the warmer weather will allow the Aedes aegypti mosquito to spread throughout states in the South and East Coast, particularly affecting less affluent areas.
A website dedicated to the Zika Virus: http://ny.gov/Zika.
When going outside, you should protect yourself and your family from mosquito bites by covering up with sleeves and shirts and by using an EPA-registered mosquito repellent.
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Computer simulations created by researchers at NCAR and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center crunched data on climate, mosquito breeding patterns, air travel, and socioeconomic status to predict which areas would make for a hospitable environment for a Zika virus outbreak.
