Zika virus has been linked to birth defects in newborn babies.
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Many people can become infected without even realizing it. However, Zika virus infection during pregnancy can cause a serious birth defect called microcephaly, as well as other developmental defects. People usually don’t get sick enough to go to the hospital, and they very rarely die of Zika.
She said back in 2010, they developed a mixture that stunted the growth of mosquitoes.
Many of those approximately 30 counties are in the Upstate, according to S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control officials.
University of Missouri Family and Community Medicine Professor Sarah Swofford thinks mosquitoes in the continental USA carrying the virus is a theoretical concern, but that could change.
The state will start distributing Zika preparedness kits to protect pregnant women from contracting the disease.
It’s not known if the virus itself causes eye problems or if the problems are a outcome of Zika-associated microcephaly. Although 31,000 people sought medical attention for the Zika virus, doctors found just eight cases of microcephaly – three in babies and five in pregnancies that were aborted.
So far, a total of 279 infected women are being followed in the United States and its territories, according to two registries that have been created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Much more research needs to be done about the effects of Zika at all stages of pregnancy, Johansson said, and other studies are now tracking hundreds of Brazilian women and babies. Currently, there’s no vaccine to prevent Zika virus disease, but the CDC outlines the best ways to prevent mosquito bites.
While the money fight continues in Congress, Findley said larvicides are available at home improvement stores – and there are plenty of things you can do around the yard to prevent it from becoming a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
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“We’ve been checking. We haven’t found any”, Dobbs said, though scientists in Texas, Louisiana and Florida have found batches of the moquitos. Once a person has been infected, he or she is likely to be protected from future infections. Although Zika most often comes from a bite from the Aedes aegypti mosquito, there have been some cases of transmission through sexual contact.
