Additional efforts include a program to analyze Zika blood tests in the state, which should shorten turnaround times to seven to 14 days, said Karen Murphy, the state health secretary.
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Separate experiments by Dr. Michael Diamond of Washington University in St. Louis and a team of Chinese researchers also showed Zika was capable of damaging fetal brain cells.
“The media and some of the health agencies were ahead of themselves by concluding the Zika virus was causing microcephaly“.
Upon returning to the U.S., she went to Danbury Hospital to get Zika test. However, last week’s laboratory test results revealed that she had been infected with Zika, a global epidemic that has affected much of Latin America and the Caribbean. “However, pregnant women and those of childbearing age are at greatest risk as Zika is known to potentially cause serious and even fatal birth defects in some babies born to women infected with the virus during pregnancy”.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now reports more than 470 cases in the continental USA, all so far associated with travel to Zika-affected areas. His pilot project will last about 10 months and involves working with two undergraduate students to study whether mosquitoes contract Zika quicker or more frequently from disease-ridden blood with the parasitic worms.
Both mouse models reflected some of the key aspects of Zika infection in humans.
No Zika-infected mosquitoes have been reported in the D.C. area, but health officials are still urging residents to take precautions. So too has the nation’s public health workforce, which is nearly 20 percent smaller than it was in 2008, according to health authorities.
The researchers found that the virus damages the placenta, restricting blood flow to the fetus and limiting its growth.
Discovering how Zika penetrates the placenta wall is the kind of scientific breakthrough needed to begin developing and testing Zika therapies and vaccines for humans. Women who also have zika symptoms should wait at least eight weeks after symptoms start before trying to get pregnant.
According to CDC guidelines, women and men living in an area with active Zika virus transmissions who desire pregnancy should talk to their health care provider. Its findings were published online in the journal “Cell Stem Cell” on Thursday.
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“Experimental and clinical proof that Brazilian circulating Zika virus causes microcephaly is only being presented now”.
