The first case of the Zika virus has been reported in Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.
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Anyone who’s recently traveled to or from Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America or South America are at risk of contracting and even spreading the virus to others.
Those who are infected are instructed not to travel to north Queensland, where the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in that area could bite them and begin transmitting the virus locally.
The ODH said planning is underway for a Zika virus tabletop exercise to ensure Ohio’s preparedness at the local and state levels prior to the 2016 mosquito season that runs from May to October.
Dr. William Swiggard says the mosquito that carries Zika is the same that carries yellow fever and the most common virus for returning travelers, the Dengue virus. More recently, it’s caused concern because of the possible link between the disease in pregnant women and certain birth defects. It also recommends that men who have a pregnant partner and have been to an area of active Zika virus transmission abstain from unprotected sex for the duration of the pregnancy.
The man was returning from a trip to Haiti, the Ohio Department of Health said.
“She got it from being in a country that has the Zika virus”.
On February 1 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Zika a public health threat, and raised the possibility that there could be up to 4 million cases of the virus in the Americas alone.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a recent case of the virus in Dallas, where it was passed through sexual transmission. “That involves not only babies born with extra small heads but also with profound abnormalities in their brains”. Symptoms that do occur in about 20 percent of those infected are usually mild and last for between two and seven days and include fever, rash, muscle and joint pain, conjunctivitis or red eyes and headache. Zika virus is known to circulate in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific region.
