As the weather warms and mosquito season arrives in the Gulf states, USA officials are bracing for more cases of Zika. The virus can also be transmitted through sexual relations. Symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain and red or burning eyes. The virus may cause microcephaly (small head syndrome) in babies born to women who are infected while pregnant.
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Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) received funds from UK’s Medical Research Council Zika Rapid Response Initiative in March 2016 for a study to establish presence of the Zika virus in Kenya and other East African countries. “The nation’s governors urge the administration and Congress to work together to reach agreement on the appropriate funding levels needed to prepare for and combat the Zika virus”, the governors said in a statement. All the reported cases are related to travel to regions affected by the virus.
Starting Monday the state laboratory will begin conducting tests to diagnose the Zika, dengue and chikungunya … all mosquito-borne viruses.
As of last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed 683 cases in Puerto Rico and it is expected that the figures will grow unless the health scare is resolved soon.
Until this week, CDC officials have said the best way to detect Zika virus is to test their blood. As for symptoms, the virus doesn’t show many. This can be done by wearing mosquito repellent, wearing long sleeves and long trousers, and staying indoors as much as possible.
There have been six Zika cases in Kentucky, but those were all in people who traveled to highly-infected areas south of the U.S. Infectious disease specialist Ardis Hoven says local transmission could occur if a recently-infected person is bitten by a mosquito in Kentucky.
State health officials are getting ready to do mosquito surveillance this summer in 10 Wisconsin counties which border parts of Illinois, Minnesota and Iowa. All cases were contracted indigenously in the area, according to health officials.
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He said that since Zika is mainly transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquito, a concentrated effort should be made to eliminate all breeding sites around the homes and communities on the island. She said her mother, whom she lives with in Danbury, would like her to make her own decision.
