CDC officials on Friday said it’s possible the new count may include a few false positives, but they say the new count will offer a more complete picture of the effects of Zika in the USA states and territories.
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“Right now what we have seen is a little over 500 cases of Zika in the continental United States and they all appear to be travel-related, not mosquito transmitted”, Obama said.
These new numbers reflect a broader group of pregnant women-those who have any laboratory evidence of possible Zika virus infection, whether or not they recalled having symptoms-compared with the previously reported numbers. At least four published studies have mentioned cases where women who did not remember having any symptoms gave birth to children with birth defects or had stillbirths that were later linked to Zika infections. Another 122 pregnant women with Zika have been reported in US territories including Puerto Rico.
The higher number reflects changes in reporting criteria rather than a sudden increase in United States zika cases. Called the Aedes aegypti mosquito, it has already infected more than 500 people in the United States.
The Doctor said: “It is likely that the South American, Caribbean and Polynesian populations had no prior immunity to the virus, so a high proportion of people who are bitten by infected mosquitos caught the disease.”
The CDC says these new numbers are not comparable to the previous reports.
Dr. Margaret Honein, chief of the CDC’s birth defects branch, said the agency is aware of “less than a dozen” pregnancies that have had complications, but since numerous pregnancies are still ongoing, birth defects could be seen after the births of the babies.
Rubio is one of several Florida lawmakers calling for federal funding to help fight the Zika virus. Rep. So the CDC is expanding its reporting to include women who didn’t have symptoms. He said a wall won’t prevent the virus-carrying insect from entering the U.S.
Cases of microcephaly, a defect in fetal neurological development where babies born possess smaller than average head and brain, were also noted as an effect of the virus.
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On Friday the U.S. Olympic Swim Team announced it was moving its training camp from Puerto Rico, which has developed into a Zika stronghold, to Atlanta. The CDC said it’s critical for local health care providers to report possible cases in pregnant women to health department officials.
