Health officials in the US said the preventive measure is necessary to help reduce the cases of microcephaly in newborn babies.
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Zika virus is not particularly new.
“The CDC will begin distributing the test during the next two weeks to qualified laboratories in the Laboratory Response Network, an integrated network of domestic and global laboratories that can respond to public health emergencies”, according to the media statement. But the child tested negative for the virus, according to Dr. Joel McCullough, interim health officer for the Spokane Regional Health District. Although numerous researches are going through to identify and to find out possible treatments, scientists are still perplexed with the link of Zika with the birth defect microcephaly.
Health officials released no information about where the woman lives, where she traveled or how long she was in a Zika-affected area.
Officials in Washington are reporting the state’s second confirmed case of Zika virus. It is warning pregnant women to avoid traveling to Zika-affected areas.
CDC reports that it has confirmed nine cases of Zika virus infection among pregnant women in the United States, with 10 more cases under investigation.
Wilkinson said World Health Organization, director has warned during his Brazil that the virus should not affect worldwide travel nor prevent a successful Olympics in Brazil.
The virus is spread to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito.
“…The CDC said it has received 147 reports of Zika illnesses to date”. Two of the women infected in the first trimester suffered miscarriages.
– Two pregnancies are continuing with no reported complications.
Zika is primarily spread by mosquito bites, and transmission through sex was thought to be extremely rare.
In January, the CDC advised pregnant women to consider postponing travel to any areas where active transmission of Zika is occurring.
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The CDC as well as other researchers are trying to determine whether the virus – relatively new to South America – definitively causes birth defects. “Another 40 are cases involving people who were infected locally, mostly in Puerto Rico and other US territories…”
